


The Bet Girl's Story

by imaginary_shadow



Category: The Covenant (2006)
Genre: Betrayal, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friendship, High School, Minor Character Death, Romance, Suicide Attempt, Supernatural Elements, Teen Pregnancy, playboy Reid Garwin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-24 17:32:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 64,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15635412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_shadow/pseuds/imaginary_shadow
Summary: The blonde handsome son of Ipswich thought himself better than anyone else. He made a bet with Aaron and it involved the new girl in the school who wasn't so easy to get. Would Reid Garwin fall in love with the girl while trying to win the bet or would the girl get her heart broken in the end and lose her life as well?





	1. Prolong

 

 

**Prolong**

 

Standing at the edge of the high cliff of Ipswich, I was recalling all the memories I had of the life I led in this small town. I was recalling those poisonous memories so that I wouldn't feel any hesitation when I jump off the cliff and end my miserable life for good.

The duration of my stay in Ipswich wasn't very long compared to the people's I associated with since I started living here. I had moved to Massachusetts from India almost two years ago when I was just fifteen. It was the first time for me actually. Never had I before moved out of my homeland to go to abroad. At that time, I was quite excited at the thought of all the adventures I would get to experience. However, in the very beginning I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't be living in cities like New York or Hollywood. Those were the places I had heard so much about, not Ipswich. But then again it didn't really matter to me at all. Because I knew that one day I would go there.

Little did I know back then, that I'd never visit those places? I obviously had a reason that made me want to commit suicide and die so willingly. It all started when I moved here.

I should tell you who I am first before sharing my story. My name is Rayna. Without any surname if you have noticed. That's because I am an orphan. I never knew my parents and grew up in an orphanage. The name was given by the sister of the orphanage who found me on the steps of the local church. Deep down I was certain that I was abandoned. That I wasn't really a kid with dead parents or no relatives. However, I wasn't miserable about that. Because at the orphanage I was loved and adored by all. It spoiled me certainly because I was the naughtiest kid among the bunch I lived in with. But the most important thing was, I was happy with my life there. It was too perfect for me. Yes, there was the lack of parental love. But I never knew what that was to begin with, so I didn't miss it or had any craving for it either. I was happy with what I had. I was happy with my life. I was content. And I never thought that one day I would want to give it up.


	2. The Beginning

 

 

**Chapter 1: The Beginning**

 

**Two Years Ago:**

It was a bright and sunny day. Sister Philomena called me in her office. She was the principle of the ST. Peters school where I was receiving my education. All the other kids from the orphanage studied there as well. I was a famous face at school. Straight A grade student and good enough in extra curricular activities as well. But the popularity never made me arrogant or selfish. I never behaved inappropriately with any of my friends or classmates. That was one of the reasons I was loved by everyone there. I was naughty and mischievous sometimes yes but I was never mean or rude to anyone. I never harmed anyone intentionally or unintentionally as far as I knew. And the teachers and my fellow students loved me because of those characteristics of mine. Being a good student only earned me extra affection specially from the teachers.

"Good morning sister." I greeted my school principle cheerfully from the doorway like I always did. Waiting for her to give me permission to enter the room. Sister was looking at some papers. She looked up and saw me. A smile formed on her lips immediately.

"Rayna, come in…come in...dear…. have a seat." I entered the room and took a seat.

"How are you this morning, Rayna?" Sister asked me as I expected her to.

"Great as always, sister." I said with a bright and cheerful smile.

"It's almost fifteen years now but I have never heard you say anything else." She observed me for a moment with her old eyes, affection dripping out of her friendly gaze.

"I pray to god that you may stay like this forever." She said and I could tell that she truly meant it. Sister did have a golden heart after all. However, I felt that moment that she had something very important to say to me. And I was proven right when she inhaled a deep breath and an unreadable expression took over her face.

"Is everything alright sister? You are being a little too emotional today." I asked smiling though but lightly. I was quite free with her so I didn't had to think twice before asking her about something. Sister sighed out heavily this time, looking rather sad.

"Rayna, there is something that I called you here to tell you. Though I didn't want to at first because I know that after listening to what I have to say, you would leave us all behind and then I will miss you greatly. But I can't be selfish enough to do that to you, dear." My heartbeat had started to increase at that moment. What could it possibly be that sister wanted to tell me? I could only think of that at that time.

"What is it sister?" I asked with both anticipation and concern.

"Well a week ago the principle of Spenser Academy visited our school. The institute is in USA Massachusetts. He offered an opportunity to our best students to study at his school. It would be like a Scholarship. You Rayna are one of the top ranked students here. And I know that you wanted to study overseas since twelve. So I gave your name to him with your academic records." Sister paused a little but I couldn't wait to hear out the rest of it.

"And?" I asked eagerly. I was already boiling with excitement. Sister gave me an assured smile.

"And I received a confirmation email today from Spenser Academy. You would be joining them the next freshman year." Just as she said that, I just got up from my chair and ran over to her on the other side of the table and hugged her tightly. I suddenly got quite overwhelmed with my emotions at that moment. Tears were coming out of my eyes but those were tears of joy and happiness.

"Thank you so much Sister. Thanks a lot."

"I don't know what else to say. I don't have any words to describe my feeling right now Sister. I never thought anything like this would happen to me. It means a lot to me. Thank you so much, I just-" I kept blabbering out but Sister didn't interrupt me and let me say all I wanted to say to her. When I stopped my blabbering myself, sister cupped my face lovingly and kissed my forehead.

"Dear, it's your goodness that you are giving me so much credit for this but the truth is, I did nothing. You deserve it, my dear. It's the result of all the hard work you had done for all these years. Just don't forget about us when you go there." I shook my head, tears were still running down my face.

"I will never forget about you Sister or about anyone else here. This is my family." I said kneeling down in front of her and held her hands with mine. I looked up at her with grateful eyes.

"Sister, would I be always welcomed here whenever I come back again?" I asked even though knowing very well that I wouldn't be able to come back here. At least not for a long time. Tears came out of Sister's eyes as well. She and I both knew that the orphanage doesn't allow eighteen year old young adults to stay here anymore. And if I complete my high school graduation from US then I would be eighteen then which meant I would never be able to come back and stay here again. I could always visit but that would happen rarely. Sister however simply nodded her head.

"You will always be welcomed here Rayna. Like you said, we are your family and this is your home and it always will be. You are the beautiful gift that god send to us himself." I nodded my head though a heavy sad sigh escaped my lips.

"Is anyone else coming with me?" I asked softly but extremely hopefully.

"No dear, I am afraid you would be on your own there. But don't worry Rayna, I know you will do just fine." I nodded my head again because my throat was getting heavier with each passing moment. And I found myself unable to speak up.

"But Sister nothing there will be like here. I will miss this place terribly." I could barely say before light sobs escaped my throat. Sister sighed out heavily seeing me cry. She cupped my face again with her hands and caressed my temples softly.

"We will miss you too my child."

Then and there, at that very moment, my life took an extremely new and wild turn. The last week of my stay at the orphanage, I spent the entire time with my huge family. We had a lot of fun together. How I would miss them all! The orphanage management threw a party for me as my farewell. Everyone knew that I might never come back again and settle down there in USA for the rest of my life. The last day of my stay at the only home that I ever knew, I couldn't hold myself back and I cried a lot. I wanted my last moments at the orphanage to last but before I knew it, I was leaving for a new life. I had arrived at Ipswich the day before the classes would start for the new semester.

It was around midnight when I got to the dorm. I didn't see anyone around and the dorm room I was given to stay in was empty too. I guessed either my roommate hadn't arrived yet or there was no room mate at all. I wished it was the later. I was hoping to have the whole room to myself. After spending my whole life sharing beds with other kids at the orphanage, I wanted to experience being alone for sometime. I learned a few things from beforehand about Ipswich famous Spenser high school. The school was, in one phrase, a rich kid's school. Most of the kids studying here were from super wealthy families. They had quite an attitude in them and thought of the other public school students lower than themselves. And also they didn't like to talk to random people either. They were all very self centered and in some cases rude. Honestly, I was kind of worried about fitting in this place. I had planned to keep a very low profile of myself. I just hoped that my stay here would be a decent one and also a trouble free one for that matter.

The next morning, the first thing I did was went to Provost Higgins's office to acknowledge him of my arrival at the school. And also get the class routine and other paperwork stuffs. He welcomed me warmly and said nice things to me as well.

"I am sure your stay here would be a pleasant experience Rayna." Provost said confidently. I nodded my head lightly.

"I hope so too Sir." I said politely.

"If you need something or want any help you can always come down here. We will try our best to help you and give you support throughout your course here. I am aware of the fact that you are totally on your own here and that this place is completely stranger to you. But I am sure you will cope up with every thing just fine." Provost Higgins was being very assured about me and my adjustment abilities. It surprised me a little considering it was our first meeting actually.

"Thank you sir, it's really kind of you." I said with as much enthusiasm as possible. He nodded his head like a wise old man that most certainly he was.

"You should go now. Your classes would start shortly." I realized that I had very little time before the first class started.

"Yes sir. I must take my leave." I got up and walked out of the room quickly. The nervousness and the uneasiness that I had before meeting the Provost, it thankfully lessened a bit after talking to him. I checked out my class routine.

"Okay first class is math algebra room 402." I said to myself out loud and quickly started to look for the said classroom. The warning bell rang after a while but I was still lost in the corridor. I did find the room but after five minutes. I peeked inside the class room. The teacher had already started the class. I knocked on the wooden door to gain the teacher's attention. He looked at me and motioned for me to come in the classroom. I walked up to him and handed him the slip of my admission record. He ran his eyes over the paper before speaking up-

"A new student, I see." The teacher said out loud. His name was Mr. Binns. I learned it from the routine. His name was written under the class name and room number.

"Why are you late, may I ask?" He asked me with a semi stern voice.

"It took me sometime to find the classroom Sir." I answered truthfully. He observed me carefully from the corner of his eyes which I noticed. The nervousness that had lessened before, it increased again.

"Make sure this never happens again." He said with a firm voice. I could only lower my head and nod.

"I would be careful from now on Sir." I said with nervousness in my voice. I was greatly disappointed in myself. I was late for the very first class of my first day. Moreover I also received a warning from a teacher. Definitely not a good beginning in my opinion. I didn't dare to look around the classroom to see the other students staring at me. It would have only made me more nervous. The teacher told me to take an empty seat on the first row. I settled myself in the assigned seat and prepared to pay attention to the class. But it was kind of impossible for me to do so because everyone around me was somehow talking about me and I could hear them out very clearly sometimes.

" _Who is this? A new girl?…. She doesn't look from around here._ " Said one voice.

_"I think she is from an Asian country…._ " And the gossip continued.

_"Hey dude… check out the new chick. She looks like a tasty little thing_." That was obviously a boy with a fine perverted mind.

" _She is cute._ " Came from a girl. She must be very nice. I wasn't saying this because she thought I was cute but her voice was soft and angel like. A bitchy girl wouldn't possess that kind of voice.

" _She is boring…. No sense of fashion at all._ " Came from another girl from right behind me. I felt a strong urge to turn around and see who it was. Just so I would know, who I must stay clear from.

" _She is so simple but still so beautiful… That is called natural beauty."_

" _Why does she have her hair tide up in a bun? She would have looked nice with another hair style_."

" _Her eyes are so attractive. Big and round, so dark but still warm."_

" _I think she would be a nerdy or a stuck up bitch…._ "

" _She looks very sweet; I would like to get to know her_." After hearing two minutes of these talks, I got a very clear idea that these people loved to gossip about others. Though I heard many things about me very clearly but still I pretended like I didn't hear anything at all and kept taking notes carefully. Suddenly the teacher looked at me.

"You…the new girl… what's your name again?" Either he forgot the name he had just seen on the paper or he wanted me to say my name out loud.

"It's Rayna, Sir." I replied loudly enough for him to hear me properly.

"Rayna what?" He asked rather sternly.

"I don't have a surname, sir." I again replied clearly.

"Don't have a surname." He murmured to himself a bit. "Interesting. Come to the board and solve this problem. Let's see what you have got" said Mr. Binns. Suddenly all my nervousness was gone. He was sort of challenging me. And I couldn't stand losing a challenge. I went up to the board confidently, took the chalk and started to do the math. I quickly solved it, put down the chalk and looked back at him. He was looking at me with a glimpse of interest in his eyes but not in a perverted way though.

"Good. Now go back to your seat."

This time I gathered up all my courage and looked around the class for the first time while walking back to my seat again. I ran my eyes over the students properly and that was when my eyes met with his. I had never seen such beautiful intense blue eyes in my whole life. Not that I was used to of blue eyed people around me. But still I could tell that his eyes were exceptional. And the person owning those eyes, was as good looking as those eyes of his. He had blond hair falling over his forehead. He was looking straight at me too. I quickly averted my eyes from him and sat down on my seat. I quietly started to take notes again. There was a boy, he was sitting right next to me. He had a warm welcoming look on his face. His light brown hair was very short in length. He had brown eyes and those held a very friendly gaze. Overall he was a cute looking guy. When the teacher looked at the other way, he whispered to me-

"Hey my name is Troy. Nice going up there." He said to me with a smile.

"Thanks." I smiled back at him.

"You know Mr. Binns would have insulted you if you had failed to solve that problem. He is always like that." I got the idea that Troy didn't like Mr. Binns much. But I felt that he was saying the truth.

"I felt that too. Lucky me." I said casually.

"Are you-" but before he could say anything else Mr. Binns looked straight at him.

"Mr. Bolton would you please tell us the laws of logarithm?" Mr. Binns suddenly asked Troy. The poor boy sat there with a face which looked exactly like a fish out of the water. I felt pity for him and quickly wrote the laws in my note and slipped it to him when Mr. Binns turned around for a moment.

"What's wrong Mr. Bolton? Were you-" he was about to throw some nice insults at Troy when he started to spout out the answer. He even finished with a nice victorious smile on his face. Mr. Binns didn't look happy though. The bell rang before any further incident could have taken place in that classroom. I was the first one to get out of the class. I needed to find my next classroom on time this time. Suddenly, I heard Troy calling after me.

"Rayna wait… hey wait." I stopped to let him catch up with me.

"Thanks. A. Lot." He said putting extra pressure on every word. It seemed that he would have hugged me if I wasn't a stranger to him.

"No problem." I said with a smile.

"No really, you are like a life savor to me" said Troy. I laughed a little at that exaggeration. But tensed up again because damn I just realized that I would be late for the next class as well. Then suddenly I got an idea.

"Hey Troy, could you please do your life savor a favor?" I asked with a very hopeful look on my face.

"Sure, anything for you?" He said without thinking for a moment.

"I need to find the art class. Could you please tell me where it is? I don't want to be late in this one too." I checked the time in my wrist watch and I had only three minutes left.

"I was about to ask that myself. Come on I will take you there." We started walking towards the classroom together.

"Which class you have now?" I asked him casually.

"Science" replied Troy.

"I am sorry you would be late for your class because of me." I said being truly apologetic and feeling a bit guilty too.

"No need to apologize Rayna. My class is just beside yours. So no worries. Besides I owe you one." I smiled at him. I already liked him. Troy seemed like a very nice guy. We could be friends.

The rest of the day before lunch break passed normally. At the lunch time I went to the library to check out its collection of books. I wasn't a book worm but I liked to be in a library because it is always a quiet and peaceful place. Also I didn't want to be in the cafeteria because I didn't know anyone there. I didn't want to sit in a table all alone when everyone around me would be chatting up with their friends. So library was the best option for me at the time and I didn't feel hungry either so. I was just reading a book about the history of Ipswich when Troy came in there. It turned out that he was actually looking for me. I was the only one in the library so he spotted me very easily.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing here?" Troy asked with a disbelieving tone voice.

"Just reading some light stuffs." I replied with a shrug of my shoulders but Troy rolled his eyes at that.

"Girl, this is lunch break. It's no time for studying. It's time for fun and getting to know people." I thought about it for a second. It was the best opportunity for me to make some friends.

"Hmm, you are right. I should make some friends now. Just let me put this book back in the shelf." We walked out of the library together. On our way Troy asked me questions about myself.

"So where are you from Rayna?"

"I am from India. I got a scholarship to study here." I replied smoothly.

"Would you mind if I ask you something?" He asked hesitatingly. I already knew what he wanted to know.

"Why I don't have a surname?" I spoke up his mind which amused Troy very much.

"Are you a mind reader?" He asked kind of seriously. I only laughed at that and paused for a second. I was actually thinking of a proper way to answer him but Troy misread my silence and thought that I didn't want to talk about it.

"You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to." But it wasn't really a big deal for me. So I explained the matter to him as simply as possible. Troy looked at me with pity afterwards. It bothered me but I didn't express it. I was happy with my life so why they have to pity me? Troy changed the topic thankfully.

"You know everyone here is talking about you." I didn't know being a new girl drew so much attention in this school.

"Why? Am I the only new student here this year?" I asked curiously.

"No it's not that. Everyone is talking about you because you are a beautiful new girl." If Troy wasn't speaking so seriously I would have thought he was flirting with me but he wasn't.

"Yeah right!" I said with incredulous tone of voice and rolled my eyes to myself.

"You don't believe me?" Troy raised his eyebrows at me and pretended to be a little offended as well.

"No… why would I? I know I'm not that pretty. Actually I am quite boring really, compare to some girls around here." Troy dramatically narrowed his eyes at me.

"You will soon find out; how wrong you are Rayna" said Troy confidently.

"Oh come on!" I said rolling my eyes at him but smiling my so famous crooked smile. It was a sign of mischief for me because I knew very well that I looked quite beautiful. I was told so by many in my life. But I never boasted on my looks. But now that I thought about it, I realized that I must look quite highlighted among the people here. I wasn't pale like most of the students at school, so naturally it differed me from the rest. I had rosy cream skin color instead. Also the quality of my skin was rather good. It was soft, smooth and spotless. Just the way I preferred it. Anyway, back to the discussion we were having, Troy suddenly stopped walking and I had to stop with him.

"What?" I asked wondering what made him stop.

"How about a bet?" He asked suddenly and I had to frown at him with confusion.

"On what?" I asked curiously.

"Weather you are beautiful or not." He said casually with a shrug of his shoulders. I thought about it for a moment.

"Okay but how are we going to find that out?" I asked. Troy smirked at me and untied my hair bun.

"What are you doing?" I frowned but also had a smile on my face to let him know that I didn't mind his action. I had very long hair, I mean past waist length long. It was black in color, silky and straight from root to end. When my hair cascaded down, they covered my whole back.

"Wow!" Exclaimed Troy with an amazed look in his eyes.

"So now what?" I asked shrugging my shoulders nonchalantly at him.

"We are going to count how many boys look and stare at you while you walk through the cafeteria." Troy replied simply. I sighed out heavily.

"Okay we are on but just to let you know I think this is a very stupid idea, no offense." Troy only grinned at me when I said that.

"You will have to buy me a coke cane if I win." He said as we started to walk again. I just shook my head to myself at his immaturity.

"And you will do the same if I win." I said being immature myself. We entered the cafeteria together. I held onto my breath. I wanted Troy to win secretly. I was a teenager girl after all. Troy pointed to a table where two girls and one boy were already sitting. We started to walk towards that table. I had two books in my hand that I had pressed against my chest tightly. Troy started to count and I was checking weather he counted correct. I found even the girls were glancing at my way. I had my gaze lowered for most of the time.

"Twenty three, 24, 25 25, 26..." Troy kept on counting and counting. Suddenly we heard a crushing sound from around us and followed by a round of laughter. I looked up to find out what actually happened. I saw that two boys were sitting on their backs on the floor in front of each other and with food all over the place. I couldn't understand at first what exactly happened but then I saw Troy chuckling and trying hard not to burst out laughing.

"What?" I asked him, still feeling confused.

"They walked into each other while staring at you." He replied while laughing and also made it sound like it was such a hilarious thing.

"That's ridiculous." I said as I shoved my books in Troy's hands and tied up my hair again. Troy's friends noticed us as we got closer to the table. It seemed like they were not believing what they were seeing with their own two eyes. The boy who sat there even rolled his eyes to himself. This got me confused. The girl with glasses waved at me with a wide smile and motioned for me to sit beside her. I sat there with the group.

"Hi, I am Angela" said the girl. She was cute looking and seemed friendly and jolly type. I liked this kind of people.

"I am Jessica and this is Michael" said the other girl. They sure looked like a couple. Michael had brown hair and blue eyes. He was cute looking too just like Troy. And Jessica had curly black hair of the length of her shoulders. Her eyes were chocolate colored. She looked like a tough girl and her face held maturity.

"I told you guys that I'd bring her here, didn't I?" said Troy as he settled himself in a chair beside Angela.

"Yeah I can see that." Michael said grumpily and he definitely didn't look so happy about my being there.

"Are you guys on a bet or something?" I asked suspecting it right away.

"Yeah Mikey here bet me that I wouldn't be able to bring you here. Now he has to do my homework for the whole week" said Troy happily.

"That explains the pissed off look." I said smiling to myself. I realized quickly that I had found the right bunch for me.

"You really showed Mr. Binns today" said Angela with a huge grin on her face. She seemed quite happy about it.

"Is he that bad?" I asked curiously with a wondering tone of voice.

"You have no idea" replied Michael. His pissed off look was easing away slowly.

"I guess I'd have to watch my back then in the up coming classes. I've perhaps unintentionally pissed him off." I said a bit worriedly but others weren't tensed up about it and took it rather lightly.

"That you did" said Troy smirking.

"What about the students here? What are they like?" I asked to no one particularly, knowing they'd all answer.

"Well there are many types of students here. We are considered as the school nerds. Specially me." Even though Angela spoke normally about it but I could tell she wasn't happy about being typecast.

"Yeah so the COOL folks avoid us but that's actually a good thing" said Jessica with a wise look on her face.

"Okay, so who are these cool folks?" I asked curiously.

"The most popular at Spenser are the sons of Ipswich. They are freshman too but they are more famous than any junior or a senior even" explained Angela. I saw Michael and Troy rolling their eyes to themselves. It spiked up my interest though.

"Sons of Ipswich? What are they, like a cult or something?" It made the girls laugh.

"You know you are really funny Rayna. I like you. To answer your question, no, the history says that they are descendants of the five families who found Ipswich colony. Look, they are sitting right there." Angela pointed at a table across the room. I looked over there and found the same blond boy from the Math class sitting there as well. There was only one girl and three more boys sitting at the table. The four boys looked equally handsome but with different features. The blonde one was easily noticeable among them. I had a feeling that he might be a playboy type guy. He just had that air about him. Angela started to fill me up about them instantly.

"The guy with a bit long hair is Pogue Parry sitting with his girlfriend Kate." I looked at them particularly and memorized their names in my mind.

"Pogue, Quite an unusual name." I commented casually and Angela continued with her talk.

"Right beside Kate, the one with black hair is Caleb Danvers. He is a saint" said Angela dreamily that made Troy roll his eyes. I could barely stop myself from smirking. I got a feeling that Troy secretly had a crush on Angela.

"The other dark brown haired boy with dark blue eyes is Tyler Simms. He is the youngest among them. And the blonde one sitting next to him is Reid Garwin." Angela spoke with quite the interest about those boys.

_"So the blonde one is known as Reid._ " I said in my mind.

"He is a total playboy. There are rumors that Reid Garwin changes his girlfriends almost every week and I think it's true. I've never seen him with one girl twice" said Angela with disgust in her voice.

"I even heard he lost his virginity when he was only thirteen. And god knows how many girls he has slept with already by now." Jessica said with disliking in her voice as well. So I was right about him after all. There was a bad boy vibe in him that wasn't so hard to detect actually. I removed my eyes from the sons of Ipswich. I really didn't have any wish to get anywhere near them. Especially the blonde one.

"They checked you out you know, during our bet." Troy informed me on his own though I didn't know why and I didn't care so I just shrugged my shoulders at that.

"So what? They won't be interested in me." I said confidently.

"Look there's Aaron Abbott, throwing daggers at the Sons of Ipswich" said Michael changing the topic and drawing everyone's attention towards Aaron as well.

"Why is that?" I asked as I looked at Aaron Abbott myself. And he really was throwing daggers at the sons of Ipswich.

"Aaron is rival of the Sons of Ipswich. But they always beat him off. I heard that just to piss Abbott off, Garwin slept with his girlfriend Kira. Not that Aaron is a good guy. He is a prick too." Michael enlightened me more on Aaron Abbott. Troy agreed with Michael and they all got into talking some more about the sons of Ipswich and their rivalry with Aaron. But I wasn't paying much attention to them because I was lost wondering in my mind, exactly where I came? And how would my life be like in this place?


	3. Friends And Enemies

 

 

**Chapter 2: Friends And Enemies**

 

I never thought that I would make friends here in Spenser so fast. Troy, Angela, Michael and Jessica, they were all very nice and very friendly towards me. It's already been a week since I started my new life here. After the classes ended for the day, I had nothing to do in the evening. Deciding to check out the area within walking distance, I got out of the dorm. I found Troy and the others at the basketball court that belonged to Spenser Academy. The boys were playing basketball while Angela and Jessica were just chatting away with each other on the bleachers. They were watching Troy and Michael playing now and then. The girls saw me first. They waved at me and smiled; and gestured me to come over. When Troy and Michael saw me approaching, they also decided to take a break in their two men game.

"Hey guys, you seem to be having a lot of fun here. I was getting bored to death back in my dorm." I said to my new friends.

"Actually we are getting bored here too. There isn't much to do around at this time" said Jessica and Angela agreed with her. Actually there wasn't anything to do at all for the three of us. Troy and Micheal weren't enjoying their game much as well; being only the two of them playing. Suddenly Michael came up with a solution.

"Why don't you girls join us in the game?" He asked though not very seriously and already expecting a negative reply. Apparently Angela and Jessica weren't into sports or they didn't play. Anyhow Michael was bouncing the basketball while doing various moves with it, kind of showing off to us girls.

Jessica couldn't help but scoff at him and muttered- "Show off" loud enough for me to hear as well. I couldn't help but smirk at that. However, I thought about the proposal of playing with the boys.

"I'd like to play for a while." I said which made both the boys look at me with raised eyebrows.

"So, you can play, huh?" Troy asked, more like inquired with disbelieve. I took it as a challenge. A friendly one of course. I took the ball from Michael and threw it at the basket. It gracefully went through the hoop and landed on the ground. I was no sports champion but I used to play in various sports with my friends in my previous school. Let's just say, I was never out of practice.

"WOW!" Both Michael and Troy said in unison. And then we began playing. After a while both girls joined us as well. They surprised themselves as they played because they turned out to be really good at it. Later, when we were heading back to the dorm, we were chatting among ourselves.

"I had so much fun today." Jessica said and she kissed Michael on his lips. He also wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to him.

"I never knew you could play so well baby." Michael complimented her.

"We know now, thanks to Rayna." Angela said, smiling at me warmly. I also smiled back at her.

That moment, and afterwards many other moments like that only strengthened my friendship with Troy, Michael, Angela and Jessica.

Over the following week, we were inseparable. We studied together, hung out together. The only times we weren't together were when we had different classes or we were in our dorms minding our own business. As the days passed, I learned more about Spenser, its students and Ipswich in general. I was getting well acquainted. And apparently I was earning a little bit of popularity too. The teachers knew me. The students who were serious about studies, knew me as well. I was nowhere near as popular as the sons of Ipswich but my existence was acknowledged. And it was enough for me.

One day, I was speaking with the Gym teacher in the gym class. The issue was that I didn't want to do swimming anymore. I didn't like swimming since I was a kid. I hated getting in so much water. I tried to learn swimming couple of times but never liked it. For that reason I never learned how to swim properly. When I came to Spenser I gave it another shot but after a few unpleasant classes, I decided to give up once again. I just couldn't continue it. Ms. Carter was girls' swimming coach. She didn't grant my request at first but after a lot of reasoning with her, she gave in finally. Ms. Carter left to her office to do some work and I was returning back to my dorm as it was my free period.

Suddenly, my way was blocked by someone. I looked up at the person and found that it was Aaron who stood in my way. What was he doing? I wondered to myself and got an answer when his eyes roamed over my body from head to toe. I could clearly see the lust in his eyes. Who knew what kind of perverted thoughts Aaron was entertaining in his mind that moment. It made me cringe from inside. How could a fifteen year old be such a philander was beyond my understanding. And the worse thing was, he wasn't the only one like that in the school. There were others as well. Just like him or perhaps even worse. Anyway, back to Aaron, he seemed to be in a mood.

"Hey there beautiful, you know it is your lucky day. Ask me why?" Aaron said with a pathetic smirk on his face.

"Why?" I asked with a flat tone of voice. I knew he was going to give me a stupid answer. Still I went along.

"Because I've finally decided to take you out. Tonight, at 7. Be ready, wear something sexy. We are gonna have so much fun together." He said while licking his lips suggestively. I instantly lost my appetite for the whole day that moment. I was disgusted though I couldn't help but laugh a little as well.

"That's very generous of you Aaron." I said trying very hard not to sound sarcastic.

"But unfortunately, I'll have to pass. So thanks but no thanks." Saying that very nicely, I tried to walk past him but he got in my way again.

"Trust me, it'd be good for you to hang out with me instead of those scums you call friends. You don't fit with them." As Aaron insulted my friends, he unknowingly crossed a line that I couldn't overlook. Right then, I decided to put him in his place. Aaron was standing very close to me now but I firmly stood my ground. It turned my stomach upside down to be standing so close to him but still I didn't move back. Aaron was wearing a short boxer only. He was obnoxiously thinking that he looked very hot and sexy. And that he'd end up making me nervous and aroused. But all I wanted to do was puke at the sight of his naked body.

All the students around us were already watching the scene with great interest. I didn't want anyone to stand up for me as I was perfectly capable of handling these types of situations myself. Thinking of some nice insults, I smiled at Aaron. It made him smirk at me victoriously while confused everyone else around us. Aaron was almost certain that I was thoroughly impressed with his boldness. This time I made the move. I raised my hand and using my forefinger, I drew a line from his right shoulder blade down to his chest and I did it quite sensually as well. Aaron's smirk increased more.

"You know I'd love to hang out with you too. Really. But there's one little problem here." I said almost sadly making Aaron frown at me with confusion.

"And what is that babe?" He asked arrogantly.

"The problem is, if hanging out with scums isn't gonna do my reputation any good around here. As you've kindly pointed out. Neither will hanging out with a man whore, don't you think? Not to mention a man whore who doesn't even get paid. How embarrassing! Here's some free advise for you, degrade yourself from a worthless man whore to somewhat worthy scum and then I promise, I will hang out with you." And I finished with a nice smile as well

Aaron was stunned to be insulted like this and for a moment he just stood there gaping at me. It was time for me to smirk at him. He soon snapped out of the shocked state. If glares could kill, I'd have died right there. There were many who stood there surrounding us and they heard what I said quite clearly. Everyone was laughing at Aaron and he was humiliated big times. However, I didn't feel sorry for him neither I felt any guilt for what I did. Aaron shouldn't have come to bother me in the first place. And to top it all, he dared to insult my friends. Aaron glared at the other students too but they ignored that and kept laughing and commenting on his situation. Throwing a 'serves you right' look at him, I finally started walking away. On my way, I heard someone talking about what I did.

"She sure did put Aaron in his right place." The person was positively impressed. I looked up to see who said that and found that it was Tyler Simms. He was standing with the other three boys who were right beside him. All of them were looking at my way and saying things to each other that I obviously couldn't hear.

Days started to fly by again. For the first few days after that incident, I thought that Aaron would try to get back at me for humiliating him. Take his revenge. But he surprised me there. Instead of getting back at me, Aaron stayed as far away from me as possible. So no other incident happened after that which I was very glad about. However, on a Friday evening, Troy came to my dorm room.

"Hey Rayna, do you have any plans for tonight?" I shook my head as he asked.

"Great! Because tonight, we are going to the Nicky's." He said cheerfully. I had heard the mention of that place before; quite a few times actually. But I didn't have any plans of going there, nor had any idea about what kind of a place it was.

"What kind of place is it really?" I asked Troy with great curiosity. He didn't say anything though and just smiled. I figured its meant to be a surprise for me. After half and an hour later, the five of us were sitting at a table at the famous Nicky's. Our table was in the furthest corner of the room. I found out that Nicky's was actually a local bar or it could be called a pub as well. Most of the kids from Spenser came here to have fun. The place was very crowded too.

"What you guys want to eat and drink?" Troy asked us. We gave our orders and he went to get them.

"Oh my, I completely forgot to tell Troy." Angela suddenly shrieked as if she forgot the most important thing of her life. She had a habit of getting hyper at times, even at the little and insignificant things. I didn't know that though so naturally I got worried. Jessica however didn't tense up like me.

"What?" She asked Angela, curiously though.

"I wanted an orange juice." Angela said making a cry face. Jessica rolled her eyes to herself and I just gaped at Angela for sometime.

"Well you can order it now." Jessica stated the obvious with flat tone of voice. Whereas I just shook my head to myself. Angela then looked at me expectantly.

"Would you please come with me Rayna?" I nodded to her.

"Sure." And then both of us, got up from the table. We spotted Troy at the counter. He was waiting for the orders to come. Angela ordered her juice while I checked out the place more carefully. I spotted the sons of Ipswich playing over at the pool table with Aaron and his gang. Almost two months at Spenser now but I had managed to stay clear of the famous sons of Ipswich. They were continuously clapping as the blond took his shots and there was a fine scowl on Aaron's face. I looked back at Angela and Troy. They were talking about their upcoming science project. The order came and Troy got busy paying the bills as we girls started to walk back towards our table. Suddenly a ball came from the direction of the pool table and hit Angela's glasses which fell on the floor. It caused laughter from all around the place. I picked up the glasses and checked whether it was broken or not. I saw tears forming in Angela's eyes, not to mention she felt downright humiliated. I also heard someone saying-

"Look the worm is out of her books." I looked up and my eyes locked with the blonde son of Ipswich. He was holding the stick in his hand and smirking like an asshole. The moment I looked at him I knew that he did it intentionally. Troy was already there to confront him.

"Apologize to her you jerk." Troy said threateningly but it only increased the smirk of that asshole.

"Oh dear! Are you going to cry if I don't?" Again people laughed at his remark. I knew I really should have stayed out of it but I just couldn't. So I went over there.

"Come on Troy, let it go." And I tried to take him away from there but not with full effort. I was just waiting for that arrogant jerk to say something.

"Yeah, listen to her" said the evil git and that was exactly what I needed him to say.

"Troy, why don't you understand, if a jerk like Reid Garwin was capable of doing anything good; the world would've been a better place. But it's not. So you confronting him, would only waste your time. You won't be getting anything else out of it. So let's just get back to Michael and Jessica. Besides, we came here to have a good time, didn't we?" I said all those things loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. Then I looked at the blonde and gave him an apologetic look.

"Sorry for the interruption my friend caused. Please do continue playing- what it seems like golf? at the pool table. We won't be causing any trouble anymore." Saying that I turned to look back at Troy who was smirking this time. He clearly enjoyed how I insulted that jerk. I heard laughter from Aaron and his gang too. Troy on the other hand had to have the last word, so he looked back at Garwin but spoke to me.

"You are right Rayna. I should've known better than to come and confront him. After all a jerk is always a jerk. And the only way to deal with them is to avoid them, right?"

"Right indeed." With that we turned around to leave. But I dared a glance at the blonde over my shoulder. And what I saw pleased me very much. He was boiling with anger and glaring daggers at me and Troy. After all I did hurt his ego, even if a bit. Caleb Danvers was saying something in his ear. Must be telling him to calm down, I guessed. Angela was standing not so far from there. A smile was playing on her lips

"You are amazing." She said, giving me a tight hug.

"Yeah, no one dared to insult Garwin like that before, not even Aaron" said Troy as he gave me a high five. We went back to the table where Jessica and Michael were sitting. They were in a corner so the whole drama was unknown to the couple. Troy and Angela soon fed them up the news. They were equally amazed and surprised. But they got worried as well.

"Garwin would surely pick on you from now on" said Jessica; concern dripping out of her voice. I couldn't deny that. Messing with a playboy like Garwin wasn't a smart thing to do after all. But I enjoyed the glory for the time being.


	4. Tangled In Trouble

 

 

**Chapter 3: Tangled In Trouble**

 

The night at the Nicky's was fun. Everything went well the rest of the evening; even after the whole drama with Reid Garwin. Thankfully nothing else happened afterwards. The following day, I was getting ready for the classes for that day. That was when someone knocked at my door. I opened the door and found Troy standing there.

"Hey good morning!" He greeted me brightly.

"Morning, what are you doing here?" I asked casually after greeting him back.

"I thought about walking together to the class. We both have geometry now." I nodded my head and turned around to lock the door. I didn't have any roommate yet, just as I wanted. Troy and I walked out of the dorm and reached the school building. We were walking towards the class while talking about casual school stuffs. We found Angela on our way. She got physics class for her first period. When we greeted Angela, Troy and I noticed that she wasn't looking very good; actually she was downright panicking because she got a quiz on the subject today. Angela was convinced that she wasn't prepared for the test properly and asked us to help her out with some mathematical problems. I checked my wrist watch and found that we still got fifteen minutes left before the first class starts. Unfortunately, by the time Troy and I reached our classroom, the teacher had already started the lecture. After apologizing to the teacher we searched for two vacant seats and found them one beside Aaron and another beside Garwin. Just great! I thought to myself.

Troy looked at me the same time, I looked at him. Our eyes locked and we both mirrored the same expression. Worry. After all we both knew very well that those seats were like danger zones for us. I was actually surprised to see Garwin in the class above all people because most of the time he missed his first class of the day.

"You take the seat beside Garwin, he wouldn't dare to do anything in the classroom." I nodded to Troy and then walked up to the vacant seat beside Garwin and Troy sat beside Aaron. Garwin however didn't bother to acknowledge me or my presence there in anyway which I was really grateful for. Though, I had a gut feeling that these two vacant seats weren't only a coincident. But I had no way to prove that, did I? The teacher had already resumed his lecture. I was paying my full attention to it and taking neat notes carefully. But suddenly I felt a hand on my knee. I quickly jerked that hand off and glared at the blonde heatedly who was smirking to himself. I sat furthest from him, increasing the distance between us as much as possible and resumed taking notes. After a while, I felt him touch me again and again I jerked away his hand but this time I whispered to him in a low dangerous tone of voice along with a death glare.

"Just because I'm sitting in a class, doesn't mean I won't do anything if you try to touch me again."

As expected, he didn't take my warning seriously and touched me for the third time. This time I didn't shove his hand away. He gave my knee a strong but still gentle squeeze. Then he started taking his hand to a higher place slowly. I looked around to see if anyone was looking at our way. Getting a perfect opportunity I stabbed his hand with my pencil compass. It created a perfect wound on the back of his palm and it started to bleed right away. Garwin suppressed the painful yelp that threatened to escape his mouth, though couldn't help but flinch visibly from the hurt feeling. The blood was making a mess and he was doing too much movements for my liking. Also, I didn't want the teacher to notice him because then I could get in trouble too along with him.

So I handed him my handkerchief to cover up the wound and somehow stop the bleeding for the moment. He looked at me with disbelieve in his eyes. It was understandable though. Given that it was me who just hurt him. After staring at me for a few more seconds, Garwin took the handkerchief and started to wrap it around his hand while looking at me from the corner of his eyes. I smirked at him and then quietly started to take notes again as if nothing had happened. We remained like that for sometimes.

"Why the hell did you stab me?" He whispered to me with gritting teeth and glaring eyes. I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly at him.

"What else was I supposed to do? And I warned you, didn't I?" His glare suddenly faltered and Garwin started smirking at me instead which made me a little confused.

"What?" I asked raising my eyebrows at him.

"Pogue was right about you. You really are a tough girl." The smirk turned more devilish as he said that.

"You did this just to find out what type of a girl I am?" I asked with disbelieve in my voice and a shocked expression on my face. Garwin winked at me like a badass. Then suddenly my shocked expression dissolved away and a 'not very impressed and bored' look appeared on my face. It made him frown at me with confusion.

"Well, that was a very lame old way to do it, wasn't it? I figured it out the first time you touched me." I shrugged my shoulders at him nonchalantly to further prove my point to him. It made Garwin gape at me a little.

"You knew that I was only testing you and still you stabbed me!" He looked perfectly pissed off which only made me waggle my eyebrows at him with a small yet satisfied smirk playing on my lips.

"Actually that's exactly why I did it. To give you a clear idea of what kind of a girl I am. I don't want you to misunderstand anything about me and know that it's in your best interest to stay away from me." Garwin shook his head to himself as I kept smirking to myself, feeling thoroughly satisfied. Then he spoke up again.

"Though you look boring but I think you are rather interesting than your looks." He said smirking at me again. Was that an effort to insult me and hurt my female ego? Too bad no offense was taken.

"I will take that as a compliment." I smiled at him bitter sweetly to show him that my ego was perfectly okay. He scowled at me with a more pissed off look on his face. I might've managed to get on his nerves finally. When the bell rang, I shot out of the seat in a lightening speed. Obviously exaggerating here. I almost ran out of the classroom and found Troy standing right outside for me. He had quite a pissed off look on his face as well.

"I'm not going to ask how the class was for you." I said knowing that it must have been hell for him as well. I heard quite a lot of stories about Aaron and his nasty ways of treating people. I had one myself. We were walking towards our next classrooms when Troy asked me a question with a curious look on his face.

"What were you and Garwin whispering about?" I sighed out a little knowing that this would come up sooner or later. And I must answer him otherwise Troy would assume something was wrong.

"He was touching me in the class thinking that I wouldn't be able to defend myself." Troy knew something else also happened. So he asked-

"And?" With a suspicious look on his face. I looked at the floor not wanting to meet his eyes that moment.

"Well, I might've stabbed him with my pencil compass to prove him wrong." I released the breath that I was holding in. I knew Troy wouldn't be very pleased to hear about that. Because Garwin wasn't someone you could mess with and be safe at the same time. And Troy knew this very well.

"Did you really do that?" He asked again not really believing me. I slowly nodded my head to him and gave him a nice innocent smile. So that he wouldn't get too mad at me for my stupidity. Troy sighed out in frustration but didn't say anything thankfully. Later, in the cafeteria we were sitting at our usual table during the lunch hour. Michael nudged me and pointed towards a direction with his eyes. I looked at the way he was showing and found Garwin there, and he was staring right at me. He still had the handkerchief that I gave him, wrapped around his wounded palm. It was soaked with blood. He was brushing his fingers against it lightly as if unknowingly doing it while gazing at me without blinking his eyes. I noticed the other sons of Ipswich were glancing at me as well. I turned back around to face Troy. We shared a knowing look before I looked down at my food to avoid the gazes which were really getting uncomfortable for me.

"You are taking yourself into further trouble Rayna." Jessica spoke up after a few seconds. She too noticed the unfriendly look on Garwin's face.

"Jessica is right. Garwin isn't the type who let go of things easily." Michael agreed with her instantly. And I knew both of them were right. I sighed out heavily to myself and leaned back in my chair.

"You guys are right, I'd stay clear of him from now on. I shouldn't have got involved with him in the first place." Though I said it and meant it but I had a feeling that no matter how much I try to avoid Garwin now, he wouldn't let me be in peace. After all, I did stab him and insulted him in front of everyone. Things were already out of my hands. As if Troy had just read my mind, he spoke up softly-

"It's too late for staying clear of him Rayna. He's already up to something. I can feel it." And I couldn't agree more with him.

For the next couple of days, I made sure that Reid Garwin wouldn't come near within ten feet distance of me. Except for the one class we had to sit next to each other. But I found it really hard to avoid him other times as well, because he was literary stalking me around whenever he had the chance. It was like a 'hide and seek' game for us which we were playing quietly. But even that didn't continue for a long time. It didn't stop. It got worse.

One evening, after a tiring day, I thought about going out to take an evening walk. To refresh my mind. My room was on the fifth floor, and though I usually used the stairs but that day I felt like using the elevator. It was merely a spur of the moment decision. Unfortunately you never know when your bad luck decides to pay you a visit. I got into the elevator and pressed the ground floor button but it stopped on the fourth floor to let someone in. The elevator door opened and the person that stepped in was none other than Reid Garwin. As soon as I saw him stepping inside, I tried to walk by him and get out of the elevator. But he blocked the way of my exit and let the door close itself. The look on his face made me extremely uncomfortable. He was checking me out from head to toe like Aaron did the other day. But this time it made me nervous. He must have noticed it as he smirked to himself and stepped closer to me.

"You are not bad looking at all. Actually, you're quite pretty I must say." He took one lock of my hair in between his forefinger and middle finger and combed it down to where it ended. I hadn't tied up my hair that time like I usually do before going out. It was also a spur of the moment decision.

"An now that I'm noticing you for quite a few days, I think you could be the most attractive girl in Spenser if you work on it." I felt his hot breath on my neck. I was pressed against the elevator wall and he was standing so close to me, that I started getting goosebumps on my skin. When he whispered those words to me huskily, I felt myself shivering from inside. Why was he doing this to me? More importantly why was I feeling this unknown ticklish feeling all over my body? Why was he affecting me like this? The confusion in my mind was getting me nowhere. But somehow I managed to get a hold on myself. I gave him a sharp look and spoke up with a firm tone of voice.

"This is not going to work on me." I said looking straight into his eyes. Which wasn't a very good idea because if I was a little careless those ocean like eyes could have drowned me right away. Damn! why the elevator wasn't moving any faster? At last the door opened on the ground floor. I was certain the elevator moved at its usual speed but it had felt like a long time to me. I pushed Garwin away and ran out of there. I was breathing heavily as I came outside of the building as if I was running down a hundred miles per hour. Why the hell he was being so difficult? Couldn't he just forget about what happened? Why was he being so stubborn? Would I ever get the answers to these questions?

 


	5. The Assignment

 

 

**Chapter 4: The Assignment**

 

After the encounter with Reid Garwin in the elevator, another fateful event took place. It happened in the geometry class where I had no choice but to sit next to him. That day in the class, it seemed his life's mission was to get on my nerves. Not that he went easy on me on other days but this time he was more determined than before. I was having a hard time staying calm myself and not reacting to him but honestly after five minutes, I started to lose my patience as well. Garwin was doing everything possible to annoy me including throwing dirty remarks, occasional touching and stupid smirks. The entire class he didn't let me concentrate on the lecture for one moment. Oh how I wished to snatch that irritating smirk off his pretty face.

"Class, here is an assignment for each of you." Mr. Fross our geometry teacher announced to the class.

"You'll solve all the problems of chapter five and submit it next week. But because the chapter is quite hard, I've decided to let you work with a partner this time. So now, two students would submit one copy of the assignment. You can pair up according to the order you are sitting right now."

As soon as those words left the teacher's mouth, I completely froze on my seat. Why? Well I just realized that I'd have to work with Garwin for a whole week. I glanced at the evil git and found him smirking like the asshole he was. I couldn't help but glare at him. Garwin however simply winked back at me and his smirk widened more. I rolled my eyes and looked away. Anyone could tell looking at my face that I was severely pissed off with this unexpected turn of event. I looked over at Troy and saw that he had a helpless expression on his face. After all he was paired up with Aaron. I just couldn't believe our luck.

At the lunch time, I went to the cafeteria. I was walking towards my friends who were sitting at our usual table but suddenly someone blocked my way. And it happened while I was passing the table of the sons of Ipswich. Three guesses who stood in my way? Of course it was Garwin.

"Hey nerdy, so when are we going to start working on our new assignment?" He was leaning a bit closer to me with each word he spoke.

"Since when did you get so serious about doing homework Blondie?" I retorted back sarcastically with a heated glare at him. Garwin just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly at me.

"Since you became my partner." He gave me the most straight and obvious answer. I wanted to correct him saying 'assignment partner' but then decided not to bother. Instead, I breathed out my frustration and tried to calm down my mind for a moment.

"How about this-?" I began after taking in a deep breath and then looked straight into his eyes. "You let me work on this alone? And I'll bring both of us good marks. That way you can party around all you want and have fun without any interruptions."

I was willing to do this assignment and all his homework if it meant that he'd leave me alone and let me be in peace. I didn't hesitate to make it clear that I had no wish to work with him. Any self respecting guy would have stayed away after getting insulted but not Garwin of course. He simply didn't have any shame to begin with. Still I had a little hope that he might consider the proposal. However, deep down I knew that Garwin wouldn't let an opportunity of harassing me slip away. Not at any cost. As expected and dreaded, the jerk shook his head in reply.

"How am I supposed to learn if you do all the work?" I narrowed my eyes at him. And when he smirked, I felt like screaming at his face. I was pretty sure that I had turned a little red from all that anger I was feeling at that time. The rest of Garwin's friends, meaning the other three sons of Ipswich were enjoying the scene very much. I had to inhale a deep breath once again to calm down and not lose it.

"Tomorrow afternoon in the library with Troy and his partner." I walked away from him saying that. I didn't give him any chance to say otherwise on this matter. Once I reached others, I dropped myself on the vacant chair next to Angela.

"What was all that about?" She asked looking confused and concerned at the same time.

"Mr. Fross gave us an assignment to do today. I'm partnered with Aaron and she is paired up with Garwin" explained Troy in one sentence.

"Merry Christmas." Michael smirked at us and in return he received a slap at the back of his head by Troy and a smack on his arm by me.

"Hey easy!" He glared at Troy while rubbing his head to sooth away the pain.

"You deserved it" said Jessica with a crooked smile.

"What did Aaron say about this?" Angela asked drawing our attention back to the conversation. Troy groaned out a little at the mention of Aaron's name.

"That prick ORDERED me to do the whole assignment and submit it for both of us" said Troy. Lucky him I thought to myself.

"I offered that to Garwin but he said 'how am I suppose to learn if you do all the work'. (sigh) I seriously wanted to choke him to death when he said it. He is such a pain." I didn't realize that I was glaring in the space as I visualized Garwin's smirking face in my mind.

"So what would you do now?" Angela asked worriedly, realizing the seriousness of the situation. I sighed out sharply feeling quite helpless, and frustrated as well.

"I said to him that I'll be working on the assignment tomorrow afternoon with Troy and his partner. So if he is interested he'd have to come to work with us." I really wished that Garwin would change his mind about doing the assignment with us. But even I knew that it was just a wishful thinking and nothing else.

"You did a good thing Rayna. It's not safe to spend time with that jerk alone" said Jessica more to herself than to me actually. Everyone else agreed with her on this, me included.

The following day, Troy and I headed towards the library to do the assignment like we planned to do the previous day. I was again hoping that Garwin would just forget about it and wouldn't show up but I was wrong. Dead wrong. He was already in the library, moreover waiting for us. Not to mention he was reading. It appeared that he was trying to understand the mathematical problems on his own. It shocked both Troy and I. And we wondered, what really happened to Garwin? He looked up from the book and saw us.

"Hey!" He greeted us with a friendly tone of voice. Troy just ignored him but sat in the chair right next to Garwin, so that I wouldn't have to. I however, said a small hi back to the blonde before sitting down myself.

We worked for over half and an hour on this. The way Garwin was asking us questions, it was clear that he never paid attention to any of the classes. Well I wasn't expecting anything else from him anyway. One good thing was he didn't try to do anything nasty with us the entire time. Though I still couldn't help but be suspicious that Garwin was actually up to something and his sudden friendly behavior was just an act. Despite the fact that he had a very genuine 'eager to learn' face but I kept asking in my mind, why now he suddenly got serious about studies? Everything about Reid Garwin seemed conspicuously suspicious. I tried to behave as normally as possible without showing any negativity towards Garwin. Because more than anything, I wanted the time to pass without any incident or accident for that matter.

After finishing working on the assignment for the day, Troy and I were heading back to our dorm. "What was up with Garwin today? Why was he being so nice?" Troy asked; something I was wondering myself. I shrugged my shoulders expressing my own confusion.

"I was wondering the same thing actually." I confessed my thoughts to him.

"We should be more careful, especially you. If he's really up to something then it's to get back at you." Troy warned me and I couldn't agree more with him.

For the next three days it was the same. Troy, me and Garwin would do the assignment in the library together. But on the fourth day Troy couldn't come with me. He had asked Angela out for the first time and they were going on a date. I knew from the beginning that Troy and Angela liked each other but both were too shy to admit it. I encouraged Troy to ask her out and Angela said yes without thinking about it for a second. She was very happy about it and so was Troy. Though at first he didn't want to leave me alone with Garwin but I insisted that I would be alright. Still it took me almost half an hour to convince Troy to go. After all it was just a matter of one or two hours only. There was no way I wouldn't survive Garwin for that small amount of time. As usual, Garwin was sitting in the library and waiting for us. Never had I pictured Garwin to be such a punctual person before.

"Hi." I said to him quietly. Then for the first time, I pulled out the chair and sat right beside him. Garwin looked at me with confusion at first and then he glanced at the door. Must be to see if Troy was coming. When he realized that Troy wasn't coming and I came alone, Garwin smirked to himself.

"Where's your bodyguard today?" He asked without any hesitation. I immediately started regretting coming here alone. I really should have just cancelled today's plan.

"I think I'll survive one hour alone with you Garwin." I said confidently. Garwin on the other hand shook his head to himself and chuckled lightly. But then suddenly seriousness took over his facial expression.

"You know for once I'd like for us to speak to each other normally. You know without you thinking of me as a bad guy." He said. The situation was getting really uncomfortable for me.

"I never thought of you as a bad guy Garwin. There's a difference between thinking someone is bad and knowing someone's spoiled." I stated simply.

"So you think I am spoiled." He said leaning on the table more and getting closer to me in the process.

"Of course you are. Not to mention you are arrogant and stubborn as well." I said that as a matter of fact while keeping my face straight.

"I'd really like to change these opinions of yours about me." Garwin said firmly while leaning back from me and straightening up his body. I didn't say anything further knowing that one thing would lead to another and after sometime we would be shouting at each other in the library. So I avoided every stupid thing he said and concentrated only on the math for half an hour. But then suddenly Garwin asked a question out of nowhere.

"Is it so bad?" He was even looking at me intensely that moment.

"What is so bad?" I asked with confusion in my voice but without meeting his gaze.

"Working alone with me." This time I had to look up and see into his eyes. His already intense eyes intensified more when our eyes met. As if he was hurt because I thought no good of him. It troubled my mind more than I wanted to admit. I frowned at him with both confusion and frustration.

"Why do you care about what I think about you? I bet a lot of people think a lot of things about you. And I know for a fact that you don't give a damn about what those people think. So why does it matter what I think?... You know this sudden change in your attitude only confirms me more that you are really up to something." We both were looking at each other in the eye as if we were in a staring contest. I looked away first as it was getting really awkward for me. He never took his eyes off of me though. After a few minutes more I couldn't take it anymore so I got up and collected my stuffs.

"We will continue working on this tomorrow." I didn't wait up for his reply and walked out of the library as fast as I could. But he followed me out and at one point he stood right in front of me, blocking my way.

"What do you want?" I asked patiently with a calm voice as I didn't want to create a scene, even though there was no one to witness.

"I want to get to know you." His hands were in his usual finger-less gloves. It looked good on him but that was not a time to observe his looks. I told my stupid self.

"Why? I'm not your type of girl Garwin and we both know that. Why the sudden interest? What the hell are you thinking of doing?" He stared at me for a few seconds and then just left without saying a single word.

"Does he have any mental issues?" I asked to myself out loud. I was not sure about Garwin but if I had to deal with him like this then I'd certainly go insane in a few days.


	6. Study Buddies

 

 

**Chapter 5: Study Buddies**

 

I was very happy when I finally submitted the godforsaken assignment. Not because I'd get a good grade in it but because I was finally getting rid of Garwin. It took Mr. Fross only a couple of days to finish checking our work. We got an A just as I expected. However, I wasn't allowed any time to be happy about it. Mr. Fross for some unknown reason asked me and Garwin to stay after the class. I was absolutely clueless why, but Garwin was smirking slightly which was never a good sign for me. To say the least, I was worried. It was only after the class I found out what was the matter.

"Ms. Rayna; Mr. Garwin you did really well in this assignment. The way you explained every step and wrote down side notes where necessary, it was good." Mr. Fross praised our hard work. Well my hard work to be honest. Garwin learned more than solved problems. Though, I couldn't be happy about the compliments as I was having a really bad feeling in my guts. As if something bad was going to happen. Also Mr. Fross mustn't have asked us to stay after class just so he could praise us. I knew this was about something else. I just didn't know what and it made me more worried.

"Thank you Mr. Fross." I politely said to the teacher and he smiled back at me warmly.

"You're welcome. Now there's something I need to talk to you about. Ms. Rayna, would you give me an honest answer and tell me how much Mr. Garwin here, worked on this assignment?" I was baffled by the question for a second. But I answered honestly.

"He worked with me everyday sir. Mr. Garwin was as serious about getting good grades on this assignment as I was." I still had no idea what was happening. Where this conversation was leading to?

"No wonder Mr. Garwin has started improving himself. A lot, I must say. It appears that studying with you is a good influence on him." I said nothing and let Mr. Fross continue speaking.

"So I must ask you Ms. Rayna, would you be able to take Mr. Garwin under your wing. You know help him with his studies for the rest of the semester. It'd really do him good. I know you won't be earning any extra credit for this since its just student helping out another fellow student. And you can deny to help him if you want. But I'd really appreciate it if you do help." At that moment, I wanted to bury myself six feet under the ground. I stayed quiet for a moment as I registered in my mind what Mr. Fross just said to me. Just when I thought I wouldn't have to deal with Reid Garwin anymore. Why the hell was this happening to me? I wanted to scream but instead I opened my mouth to give an answer as Mr. Fross was waiting for one.

"I'd be happy to help out Mr. Garwin." I forced out the answer. Though Mr. Fross said, I had the option to say no but denying a request from a teacher would've been unbecoming of me as a good student. I had no wish to make a bad impression on Mr. Fross or any other teacher for that matter. As I agreed to help, Mr. Fross gave me a closed lips smile.

"That's very good. I knew you'd understand and be helpful." I could only nod my head.

"Well then, I won't keep you here any longer." Mr. Fross said to both Garwin and I. And then he dismissed us from the meeting. I hurried out of the classroom. Troy and Angela were waiting up for me outside. But I didn't walk up to them right away. Instead I turned around to confront Garwin who was right behind me.

"What the hell was that?" I asked angrily while glaring murderously at him. I could barely keep myself from shouting out loudly at his face. I was feeling so enraged. Troy and Angela looked at each other. Sensing that something was wrong, they came over to us. The moron Garwin on the other hand blinked at me couple of times, acting as if he was as clueless as a new born baby.

"What are you talking about?" Garwin asked with thick confusion lacing his voice.

"Don't play dumb with me Garwin. I know it's all your doing." His oblivious act was getting on my nerves very badly. It turned out even confronting Garwin was difficult.

"I seriously don't have any idea what are you talking about." He said, again with a frown of genuine confusion on his face. I couldn't take that anymore. So before I burst out due to my high temper that time, I had wisely stormed away from him. I felt Garwin looking at my way. And I felt him smirking. Troy and Angela caught up with me soon. They had no idea what just happened between Garwin and I.

"What was all that about?" Angela asked looking worriedly at me. And why wouldn't she feel concerned? After all, I had turned dangerously red with anger. I was just feeling so mad. But I forced myself to calm down enough, so that I could answer my friends.

"Mr. Fross asked me to help Garwin with his studies so that he could improve himself more. Can you believe it?" I growled out in frustration. Neither Troy nor Angela had anything to say to console me. They could only feel sorry for me. I thought I wouldn't have to deal with Garwin that day anymore but obviously I was wrong. During the lunch break, he came over to our table. And of course he had to hover over me as well. He put one hand on the table and another one on the back of my chair for support as he leaned closer to me. It was an attempt to invade my personal space as much as possible. I had to lean back from him to increase the distance between us. I didn't like it a bit, the pose we were currently in.

"I came here to know how you are planning to schedule our study time." There was a smile on his lips that badly wanted to turn into a smirk. I smiled back at him with fake sweetness.

"Oh, I've already made the schedule." This time instead of speaking angrily, I used a cheerful tone of voice. It certainly made Garwin a little confused though he didn't show it on his face. My behavior confused my friends as well. However they didn't bother to hide their confusion. They even gave me weird looks.

"We'll start studying together from tomorrow. From 7 to 10pm, in the dorm common room. Try to be there at 6:45 though. The more we study together, the better you'd get." I even gave Garwin a nice smile at the end. I could see he was fighting an urge to glare at me. It only satisfied me more. His lips formed a thin line. It was a sign that he was getting angry which pleased me to no limits. However, instead of doing anything stupid or saying anything idiotic, Garwin just nodded his head curtly and walked away from the table. As he left, I looked back at my friends only to find them with confused faces.

"Why do you look so happy about tutoring Garwin all on a sudden?" Troy asked me with furrowed brows. They didn't get it yet what I just did.

"Because, my dear friends, Garwin is thinking that he could make my life a living hell and get away with it. But that's not going to happen. If I'm going to suffer, he'll suffer with me." Jessica smirked at me as I said it. She understood what I had in my mind but Angela still looked clueless.

"But how would you make him suffer?" She asked. I leaned back in my chair and proceeded to explain my plan.

"Garwin wants to study, doesn't he? So I'll make sure, for the rest of the semester that he can't do anything else but study. The time I gave him for studies, it'd prevent him from going out anywhere at night. Which means no girls, no parties, no Nicky's and absolutely no having fun for as long as he wants to study with me." Now that I shared my plan with them, they got really impressed.

"He'd give up after the first day." Michael said as he put his money on the table in front of Troy with a loud thud. Troy smirked at him. Again another bet.

"He won't even show up" said Troy and put his money as well. And we girls shook our heads to ourselves hopelessly.

Unfortunately both Troy and Michael lost their bets as it had been almost one and a half month now since I started helping Garwin with his studies. Surprisingly he didn't give up after the first day, nor after the following day. Garwin kept showing up on time everyday. It was something none of us expected to happen. So far nothing happened other than studying. Sometimes we all studied together, doing group studies but most of the days, Garwin and I studied alone. But it wasn't bad. Not at all. Another thing, I didn't expect.

I even started to feel that maybe, just maybe he wasn't really up to something bad. I couldn't help but think that if he was really planning a revenge on me then he'd have wanted to get it over with quickly. Not drag it for so long. Perhaps I was wrong about Reid Garwin after all. When I started thinking that, I started talking to him normally. Sometimes we'd even make conversations. I began to laugh at his jokes and he would laugh at mines. We were forming a friendship between us that neither of us spoke about out loud. Not even to each other or ourselves.

"You know you are really not the type I thought you were." Reid said one day. We were in his dorm room because Tyler was out at the time. It was almost ten in the night and we were about to finish our studies for the day. Oh and yes, we started calling each other by our first names now. Though it happened gradually but we got on each others' good sides. My friends as well started to look at Reid as a different person. We all were on friendly terms with each other which was quite unbelievable in my opinion. But I was glad about it nonetheless.

"What did you think?" I asked back to him showing interest and curiosity. Reid sighed out a little before replying-

"I thought that you'd be moody, boring, not knowing how to have any fun, nerdy type, and an insufferable know it all." Reid never hesitated to speak what was on his mind. I liked that about him actually.

"So, what do you think now?" I asked looking at him straight in the eyes. For some strange reasons, I admired those blue eyes of his. They were so natural and intense and beautiful. Since I was a kid I loved the sea of Goa. I often went to the beach with my friends to make sand castles and enjoy the sunset. Reid's eyes reminded me of that sea. It was really nice.

"You're really easy to get along. Also you're not girly girly at all. I like that in a girl." I gave him a crooked smile of mine before speaking up my mind as well.

"Well, my thoughts about you changed a bit too." Reid sighed out softly hearing that.

"Well that's such a relief." He said a bit dramatically which made me laugh. After conversing with each other for a while, I called it a night. Once I dreaded spending time with Reid but now, I looked forward to it. And speaking of our studying together, it indeed did Reid a huge favor. He was constantly getting good marks on his tests. Teachers noticed his improvements too and they appreciated it. He stopped going to late night parties and as a result he was always on time for the morning classes. Not to mention there were talks among boys that Reid Garwin hadn't slept with any girl for past three months. He was a completely changed person in everyone's eyes. And unsuspectingly I slowly started to trust him.


	7. Creating A Family

 

 

**Chapter 6: Creating A Family**

 

The famous Sons of Ipswich always stayed together. I often wondered why? Each one of them was different from the other. Caleb was the mature one, always trying to keep his friends out of trouble unlike Reid. He was the trouble maker of the group. Pogue was kind of wild sometimes and sometimes mature while Tyler was a shy type of boy. I heard a lot about the other three sons from Reid. And the more I learned about the boys, the more I got curious about them. And so, I made up my mind to officially meet Reid's friends in person. It was strange that I hadn't got a chance to talk to them yet. Not even a simple hello. Anyway, Nicky's was the perfect opportunity to at least introduce myself to the other three sons of Ipswich and have formal conversations with them. Having that in my mind, I went to Reid one day.

"Hey, I was wondering; what are you doing tomorrow night?" I asked him with a casual tone of voice. Reid shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"Studying with you, what else?" He replied without putting much thought to it. However, I shook my head which made him confused.

"Tomorrow, we're going to Nicky's." I said with a smile but Reid raised his eyebrows at me. A surprised expression appeared on his perfect face. Clearly he was finding it hard to believe.

"I was thinking about meeting your friends and you know, get to know them as well." I explained my true motive to him but Reid smirked at me. I understood right away that he was going to turn this into something completely different.

"So finally you are asking me out. Sweetheart, what took you so long?" Reid asked very enthusiastically making me roll my eyes at him. Some things never change. For example, Reid's occasional flirting with me. His smirks were another one of those things. Though I'd be lying if I said that I didn't like them on his face. Somehow I had not only gotten used to of them but started finding them endearing as well.

"Well what else I'm supposed to do? You don't have the guts to ask me out." I winked at him playfully. I was capable of flirting back too. But it was just a joke for me. Reid's expression however suddenly changed for some reason. His dazzling blue eyes got intense hundred times more and he slowly leaned closer to me; intentionally invading my personal space. I took a step back without really realizing it. I didn't wish to admit it even to myself but I was getting lost in his eyes.

"If you want to see my guts then all you have to do is, ask." I gulped down my nervousness that I suddenly started to feel after hearing his husky seductive voice. I didn't know why I was feeling this unnecessary nervousness. I mean it was just Reid, right? Thankfully Troy came over to us at that time and saved me from that awkward situation. I noticed from the corner of my eyes that Reid didn't look so happy when I turned away from him. But I refused to waste any time pondering on that matter.

As I had planned, I went to Nicky's with Reid the following day. Tyler gave us a ride in his hummer. I made small conversations with Tyler on our way towards Nicky's. He was very sweet and charming, just like I thought him to be. He was also very easy to get along with. Not to mention completely different from Reid. Like one eighty degree different. It was really unbelievable that they were best friends. By the time we got to our destination; Caleb and Pogue were already there along with Kate. They looked at us and waved for us to come over to them.

"Hey what's up boys and Kate?" Reid asked as he dropped himself on the vacant chair beside Pogue. Tyler was gentleman enough. He motioned for me to sit beside Kate before settling down himself.

"It's about time you're showing your face down here again" said Pogue looking at Reid. He just gave him a small tight smile in response and then proceeded to introduce me to the others. Though I was sure that they already knew me.

"Guys, this is Rayna, you all know her obviously. And Rayna these are my other two buddies, Caleb, Pogue and that's Kate. Pogue's girl." Reid finished his job of introducing us and then left it up to me to get to know them. I nodded to them with a smile at first.

"I must say, I've already heard so much about you guys that you don't seem like strangers to me at all." I really felt that I knew them all. Thanks to Reid of course.

"Same here, it seems like Reid has only one person to talk about and that's you" said Caleb sounding very friendly as he spoke to me.

"I hope he said nothing too bad about me but I won't be very surprised if he did actually. After all, I practically made his life a living hell for past couple of months." I knew very well exactly how hard it was for the blonde son of Ipswich to change his life style so drastically. He really went through hell to keep up with my studying strategies that I made exclusively for him. As I admitted to it, Kate spoke up. She had some questions for me.

"I really have to know this, how in god's name did you manage to turn the totally jerk Reid that we all knew about, into a semi jerk Reid in such a short span of time? It was practically impossible to do." Kate spoke in such a conversational tone of voice as if Reid wasn't even there. I couldn't help but giggle while the others smirked widely. Well everyone except for Reid. He obviously glared daggers at Kate for calling him a jerk.

"Trust me I have no idea." I said with much enthusiasm in my voice. Reid glared at us both and furrowed his brows angrily at us.

"If you girls fail to notice it, I am sitting right here" said Reid sounding offended. He even pouted his lower lip a bit. He looked so immature that moment that I couldn't help but smile to myself while thinking how adorable he looked. Reid really did have some striking angelic features in him. How come I didn't notice it before? Perhaps I was blind. Back to the conversation, we talked more about it and laughed for a while longer. Then Tyler looked over at the pool table and noticed Aaron and his sidekicks there.

"Come on man, let's go over to the pool table and kick Aaron's ass in the game." Tyler nudged Reid to get up from his chair but he looked at me first.

"What?" I asked with confusion in my voice.

"Would you be alright?" He asked me with concern in his voice. I felt my heart skipping a beat suddenly, seeing that he cared about me. But I didn't dare to take it another way and thought of it as just a friend's concern for another friend. Nothing more or nothing less. So, I simply nodded to him.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, don't worry." After that, Reid and Tyler left the table and I stayed back with the others. When the two boys were out of earshot I spoke up again.

"I don't know why but sometimes it really makes me uncomfortable." I said that more to myself than to the others.

"What?" Kate asked me curiously. I inhaled a deep breath first before speaking up again.

"You know, Reid being so nice to me and all. Sometimes it just doesn't seem normal to me." I knew that I shouldn't be saying this to his friends above all people but it just came out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

"Yeah, it's kind of weird really. Reid never acted like this before. He hasn't come here for months. He wasn't being a playboy with any girl. His academic results are improving noticeably. I'm pretty confused myself" said Kate elaborating the conversation instead of getting uncomfortable and change the topic.

"I first thought that he was up to something but then his behavior didn't make any sense to me. I mean, even if he had plans of getting back at me for the fights we had in the beginning, I don't think he'd have taken so long to execute them." I said that while looking particularly at Pogue and Caleb. Because if Reid was really up to something then they must know about it. I also noticed how quiet they became as Kate and I talked about Reid's suddenly changed personality. Perhaps they were confused like me but I had a feeling that they knew something that I didn't. But I shrugged that feeling off without thinking much about it.

"So, how is it going on with Reid?" Kate asked, successfully capturing my attention back to her gossips.

"Oh, we're just friends. Though most of the time either we fight or argue about one thing or another. If you ask me for my honest opinion, I like the jerk Reid better than the too much polite Reid. It really creeps me out when he's being nice with me." Kate laughed lightly at that. However, Caleb and Pogue still had that strange look on their faces. After a few moments, I couldn't help but ask them.

"You guys have known Reid your entire life. How would you explain this sudden change in his behavior?" I asked straight to Caleb and Pogue. Caleb sighed out a little whereas Pogue still remained quiet.

"We don't really know Rayna, how to explain this. We're confused too." Both the boys looked at each other after Caleb said it. Then suddenly they became more uncomfortable. As if they didn't want to be around me anymore. It made me a bit suspicious. Before I could ask them anything else, they excused themselves and went over to play Foosball. They didn't even care about making it obvious that they were trying to get away from me or should I say my questions.

"What got into them?" Kate asked out loud with confusion in her voice but she asked it more to herself than to me. I was wondering about the same thing in my mind. Once that moment of confusion was over, Kate and I started talking again and we got along just fine. Actually more than fine. For almost an hour, we talked as if we knew each other very well. Kate told me how she got involved with the sons of Ipswich. She always had a crush on Pogue since they started going to school together. Pogue asked her out on a date at the beginning of the last year and she agreed immediately. Her dream came true that day and since then they were together. I told her about myself too.

"You're really different from the other girls Reid usually dates." Kate said at one point of our conversation.

"Well that's because I'm not dating Reid. We can hardly stand each other. I'm not his type." While I was saying that, I noticed Caleb and Pogue going over to the pool table and then the four boys went outside through the back door of Nicky's.

"Why the hell is Aaron looking over at you?" asked Kate, while glaring at Aaron. I looked over myself and found that he really was looking at me in a nasty way.

"I once insulted him when he hit on me." I replied to Kate but that didn't explain the look he was giving me though. After a while all four boys returned to the table. We were just talking when my phone suddenly went off. I checked the ID and found that it was Troy who was calling me. I excused myself and went outside to get away from the loud music blasting inside.

"Hey Troy, what's up?" I asked as I answered the phone.

_"Rayna, where are you?_ " He asked sounding concerned.

"I'm at Nicky's right now. I came to meet Reid's friends. Is everything okay?" I heard Troy sighing out in relief.

_"Yeah everything's fine. I just went to your dorm and you weren't there. So I called to_ -" Troy trailed off. I could tell he was worrying about where I went. I felt guilty about it. I should've informed him about my plan tonight. But it wasn't exactly my fault either. I didn't really get a chance to talk to him earlier when I made the plan.

"I'm sorry Troy. I should've told you about coming here. But don't worry. I am fine and I'm having a great time. I'll talk to you when I get back." I apologized to him for making him worried.

_"It's okay Rayna. Just be careful and have fun. I'll see you later then, bye._ " Saying that Troy hung up and I made my way back inside.

"Who was it?" Reid asked the second I walked over to their table.

"Troy." I replied shortly and Reid rolled his eyes to himself.

"Does that boy ever leave your side? If he wasn't dating Angela, I'd have thought he is in love with you." I detected a hint of jealousy in his voice and apparently I wasn't the only one. But unlike me others didn't choose to ignore it.

"I think something is burning." Tyler teased and Reid rolled his eyes at him.

"Shut up baby boy." Reid snapped with much annoyance in his voice. The youngest son of Ipswich only chuckled more at his best friend's irritation. I understood more how very close they were. They were more than best friends. They were like brothers. One would stand beside the other in the time of need no matter what. Even their differences couldn't tear them apart. Actually, it only strengthened their bond; I believed. I couldn't help but feel though that there was something else working behind their so strong friendship. That there was something else that brought the four of them together. Suddenly at one point the conversations we were having between us involved Tyler's love life much to his disliking.

"So you really don't have anyone special in your life?" I asked Tyler curiously feeling quite interested about it. Reid snickered from beside me.

"There's a reason I call him baby boy. He's still waiting for his dream girl." Tyler glared at Reid who laughed some more.

"Wow Tyler! How did you manage to stay so decent after being around Reid for so long. It's really amazing, absolutely a miracle." I earned a grin from Tyler and a glare from Reid as I said that.

"It's really hard but I still manage" said Tyler proudly. Everyone laughed as Reid huffed in anger and crossed his arms over his chest. Sometimes he acted just like an immature ten year old. And he looked terribly adorable at those times.

I had thought that after that night at Nicky's, I wouldn't have any more encounters with the other sons of Ipswich but I was proven wrong. As time passed, I got along with them and Kate rather quickly. Soon I found myself divided between two groups. But I didn't want any of them to think that I was ignoring the other. Caleb and Pogue stopped giving me weird looks after I hung out with them a couple of more times. Caleb actually found the little sister he never had. Thankfully my hanging out with the Sons of Ipswich didn't anger my other friends meaning Troy, Angela, Jessica and Michael. They even started talking to the sons of Ipswich themselves.

One day Aaron and his gang were picking up on Troy. Pogue and Caleb saw that and they stood up for him. Pogue even punched Aaron in the face for tormenting Troy. Everything was going on so well that I never saw the darkness that was slowly approaching me. Rest of the year passed by just like that. I stopped tutoring Reid when he was good on his own. But that didn't end our strange friendship. Strange because, it was more than friendship but less than falling in love. The relation was beautiful itself. We cared about each other. At least I cared about him a lot; more than I showed. There was another son of Ipswich I got very close to. It was Tyler but he was a different case. He liked me so much that he'd follow me around the whole day, like a good little puppy. I really liked him too. But like a little brother, nothing else. Whenever he got into a fight with Reid, I'd take his side and defend him each time. Everyone who knew Reid admitted that no one could take him down in an argument like I did.

I was creating a family again; like I did when I was in the orphanage. News flew across the campus very fast. Everyone knew that I was the new addition in the group of Sons of Ipswich. Unlike Kate I had a different position in the group. I wasn't dating any of the boys and everyone knew it. So the girls of Spenser weren't jealous of me like they were of Kate. The girls with crushes on Pogue would make her life a living hell sometimes. But I wasn't having any trouble like that. In fact the girls sought me out for tips on the boys, about their whereabouts, and relationship statues with any girl and etc.

Speaking of girls interested in the sons of Ipswich, there was one girl named Melody. I sat next to her in Biology class. She was really shy and quiet type. We hardly talked to each other. One day she gathered up all her courage and asked me about Tyler. I understood that she really liked Tyler and got a huge crush on him. She wanted to know if he was seeing anyone. Melody was shaking with nervousness when she asked me about him. In the span of a single proper conversation, I found the girl very sweet. Not to mention she was kind and cute looking. Not an eye candy but cute and she seemed to possess a golden heart. She was also a bit of a book worm. And as much as I knew Tyler, she was a perfect match for him. I didn't like doing match making but the hopeful looks the girl was giving me I couldn't help it. I told her that Tyler was single and not dating anyone currently. She looked so happy hearing that. For a moment I thought she'd start crying.

"You can talk to him if you want to." I suggested Melody but she instantly tensed up.

"No, I can't do that. What if he rejects me? I'd never be able to look at his way again." Girls like Melody are really sensitive. They shouldn't get their hearts broken or they might never heal. Therefore I decided to take things in my hands.

"How about I find out what Tyler thinks about you? If I see that he is interested in you too then I'll inform you and you can go talk to him without the fear of rejection." She was looking at me with widened eyes and a surprised look on her face.

"Would you really do that for me?" She asked me with disbelieve in her voice. It wasn't really a big deal for me so I nodded my head to assure her.

"Sure. I'll do what I can to help you." Melody suddenly jumped up at me and hugged me tightly. It startled me a bit but I returned the hug before she let go of me.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you." She was actually jumping up and down with excitement. As promised, I talked to Tyler that day and found out that he too was very interested in Melody. Their feelings were mutual but both were too shy to talk to the other.

"Why don't you talk to her?" I told Tyler for the hundredth time. I was nagging him for hours now.

"What if she doesn't like me? What if she already has a boyfriend?" I rolled my eyes to myself. They even think alike, how cute. But at that time, Tyler's stubbornness was really getting on my nerves. Thankfully we were completely alone or Tyler wouldn't have opened up to me about his feelings in the first place.

"What if she likes you and what if she wants you to talk to her first?" I reasoned with him. I didn't really want to tell him that Melody talked to me about him herself. It'd have ruined the moment for Tyler.

"No, she never showed any interest in me." He argued back. I really didn't know that the youngest son of Ipswich was so hard to persuade.

"Maybe because she is shy." But of course I wasn't going to give up anytime soon.

"I don't want to get rejected?" Tyler said as he rubbed the back of his neck trying to ease off the tension I was giving him.

"Tyler, you won't get rejected, trust me. Besides you'll never know if you don't try for once. You are Reid's best friend for god's sake." This kind of speech always works in situation like this. So after arguing on this for another half an hour Tyler finally agreed to talk to her. Melody looked at me from the corner of her eyes when Tyler walked up to her. I smiled at her and showed her my thumbs up for good luck. And just as I knew and expected they started going out soon.

Before I knew it, the final exams of the semester started and I was too busy to do anything else but study. In the last day of the freshman year we all partied at the Dells. Most of the students would go back home and spend the vacation there. I on the other hand had no choice but to stay at the dorm. During the vacation I went to visit Troy and Angela at their houses. Troy lived with his grandmother in Boston. His parents were always moving around the world for business. I talked to Reid couple of times online before he went to Italy for a family vacation. Tyler however visited me in the dorms twice during the holidays. Once with Melody. He and Melody had already started dating officially. I was really happy for them. We even went out for lunch together. Melody appeared very happy and completely in love with Tyler. They gave each other lovey dovey eyes whenever they got the chance. But she was still very shy around others. Despite her shyness, Melody became a friend of mine very easily.

"Do you think I should introduce her to the others after the vacation is over?" Tyler asked me. He was talking about introducing Melody to the boys and Kate. They were a couple now after all. The others already knew about Tyler and Melody but they never got the chance to meet her properly.

"Of course you should. It'd make her happy." We talked about this when Melody had excused herself to go to the washroom at the end of the lunch.

"Ray" I looked at Tyler. 'Ray' was a nick name he gave me.

"Thank you." I smiled at him and we hugged each other lightly. Then as a good friend, I gave him a very nice piece of advise.

"Be good with her."


	8. New Feelings

 

 

**Chapter 7: New Feelings**

 

The sophomore year started after the long summer vacation. Everything seemed fresh and new. I hadn't talked to Reid for weeks now. I was really looking forward to see him again. A strange fear was working within me though. I feared that Reid might not stay the same as previous year. I feared that he had forgotten all about me and forgot about our friendship during the time we spent away from each other. I feared that in the new school year he'd move on and leave me behind. But I was his friend, right? You can dump your girlfriends, not your friends right? I'd reason with myself. Still I feared a lot of things.

The first day of the semester, everyone was catching up with each other. I was no exception. I was chatting away with Jessica and Michael. They were telling me about how their summer was. The classes would start within fifteen minutes. My eyes were flickering towards the doors every now and then. I was expecting a certain blonde to walk in through the doors. When only five minutes were left for the first class to begin and we were finally preparing to head to our destined classrooms, Reid gracefully walked inside the cafeteria.

I had no idea how it happened but Reid looked very different. He no longer seemed like an immature kid but rather a masculine young adult. Somehow he has earned a well built up body. His already angelic features developed and gave him a devilish handsome look. Any girl would go crazy for him now. Not that they weren't crazy about him already. But I was surprised when I found myself unable to look away from him. The other girls were of course ogling him as expected. Their eyes were inviting and their gestures were seductive. They not only roamed their eyes all over his body but didn't even hesitate to make it obvious. Not to mention the way they were batting their eyelashes at him. I shouldn't say this but I felt a little jealous. Okay scratch that, I felt like my blood was boiling in my veins. But I was careful not to show my emotions on my face.

I tried my best to shake off that unwanted feeling but it only increased when a girl ran into him, pretending it to be an accident when it was completely intentional. She was about to fall down on the floor but Reid quickly caught her and saved her from falling. I saw how his strong arms wrapped around the girl's waist. I noticed how he checked out the girl in his arms. His eyes lingered on her cleavage particularly. The girl blushed when she noticed his interest. Certainly feeling pleased about it. She even thanked him for saving her by kissing his cheek lightly. Though the kiss was too close to the lips. I on the other hand couldn't help but glare at them as they acted like love birds.

The girl walked away from Reid after a thank you and an inviting smile. Only then he looked at me. I should've smiled at him but I didn't. I couldn't explain my own behavior to myself but I looked away from him instead. And I was so willing to meet him just a while ago. I didn't know what got into me. Reid on the other hand, made his way over to me but I walked away from there before he could reach me. I couldn't make it far though before Reid caught up with me easily.

"Hey Rayna! Wait! What happened to you? Aren't you going to say hi to me at least?" He looked serious for a moment. I avoided looking at him and replied with a casual tone.

"You were busy checking out girls, so I thought not to bother you with my presence." I said the last part with over enthusiastic saccharine voice. Then after throwing a glare at him, I started walking again. Though I immediately regretted glaring at Reid so openly. I was supposed to keep my confusing feelings to myself. My behavior just exposed it to Reid and he didn't hesitate to tease me about it.

"Hmm… something is burning" said Reid as he smirked wickedly at me. Was something really burning? I couldn't deny it but why? I stopped suddenly and looked back at Reid who was walking just beside me. He also looked at me with both of his eyebrows raised in a questioning manner. Suddenly I started to feel nervous under his gaze. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out.

"What?" Reid asked curiously.

"I don't know. Please don't follow me right now. I'll catch up with you later." I didn't wait for him neither let him say anything. I felt his eyes on me though for as long as I was within his sight.

I avoided Reid the entire day. He looked at me now and then but didn't come over to me. The other sons of Ipswich shared confused looks among themselves. Caleb even suspected that Reid must've done something bad with me and often gave him accusatory looks throughout the day.

I spent the lunch time with Troy, Angela and Jessica. Though I appeared normal outside but inwardly I was frustratingly confused about what I felt in the morning. I desperately needed to have some alone time with myself; in order to figure out my own feelings. After the classes ended for the day, I went straight to my dorm and shut the door behind me. What was happening to me? Why did it hurt to see Reid with another girl? I was his friend. I wasn't supposed to feel like that. After arguing with myself for a long time, I was finally able to convince myself that it was nothing. Reid was my friend and nothing else. I didn't need some stupid romantic feelings to jeopardize the friendship between us. It'd certainly make things unnecessarily complicated in my life.

The following day in the morning, I was normal again. I talked to Reid as if I wasn't avoiding him like plague yesterday. For that I received weird looks from him, but he didn't say anything about my behavior which I was thankful about. I ate lunch with him, and the boys. Kate and Melody were constantly gossiping about their summer vacation.

"I heard Kira talking to her friends. Aaron thinks the new girl this year is really hot and thinking about asking her out. Kira looked infuriated." Kate informed us about that with serious interest. I didn't know that a new girl came to Spenser this year. But apparently everyone else knew about it.

"She didn't look that attractive to me" said Tyler as he wrapped his arm around Melody. However, Reid scoffed at him.

"Are you kidding me? You're just scared to confess that in front of your girl. That new girl is super sexy if you ask me. Haven't you seen the curves of her body and the way she dresses? Look there she comes." Everyone looked at the cafeteria doorway including me.

A girl walked in with bunch of other girls. She had shoulder length red hair and green eyes. Her body was extremely curvy. I could be wrong but it seemed unnatural to me; like some surgery was done on her. She did awful things with her school uniform to reveal more skin. Her face was also caked with makeups. I wasn't surprised that she caught Reid's eyes. He always preferred girls like her. In all honesty, I could have never gotten his attention by showing off my curves. Not that I wanted to or anything. I'd never do such things. But the point was, Reid would've never got interested in me because of my body. I got curves but not that much to attract someone like Reid. I never complained though; about my body I mean. I've always wanted to look beautiful but not sexy or hot. But as I saw Reid's eyes traveling up and down the new girl's sexy body, I couldn't help but wish that I had more curves than I possessed. Now why I suddenly wished for something like that was out of my own understanding?

I looked away from the girl but Reid kept gawking at her. My eyes suddenly met with Caleb's and I started to feel really insecure about my thoughts. He had a knowing look on his face. As if he knew exactly what I was thinking. He couldn't know what was bothering me, could he? I didn't know but I cleared my head from all the thoughts involving Reid and engaged myself in a conversation with Melody about something else entirely.

Melody was extremely pleased that Tyler wasn't giving the new girl any attention. And I secretly wished that Reid had done the same. Yet again I got confused about my own thoughts and feelings. Why the hell did I care if Reid was looking at some hot chick? He has done it before, but it didn't bother me then. So why was it bothering me now? I shouldn't care about it but the fact was I did care. And it was driving me crazy.

For the next couple of days everything was going on smoothly except for the inner struggles I was having with my own feelings and thoughts. It was a Tuesday evening and I was doing my part time job in the grocery store that I found myself last year. Usually I worked at the counter and handled the cash. I got my monthly allowance by working there. I was giving changes to a customer when Reid walked through the door. He quickly spotted me and came over to me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him with a wondering tone of voice. He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly at me.

"Just came to check up on you. When are you getting off?" He asked.

"After half an hour." I replied shortly as another customer came with a loaded cart. She was an old lady and a regular customer of the store. I knew her and she knew me as well.

"Hello Maria, how are you today?" I asked her like always and she smiled at me warmly.

"Just the same. Getting older every day." She let out a small chuckle saying that. Her eyes went over to Reid.

"Who is this? Your boyfriend?" I prevented the blush from showing.

"No, he's just a friend. We go to Spenser together." I replied quickly and felt Reid's eyes on me which made me a bit uncomfortable. I looked back at him and saw his eyes got intense for some unknown reasons. It was really unnerving.

"I'll wait for you outside." He said and started to walk away.

"Reid!" I called him back. He stopped in his track and looked back at me.

"You don't have to wait up for me." I didn't know why Reid was suddenly so interested about escorting me back to the dorms. It was in a walking distance anyway. Reid however shook his head in response.

"I want to." And saying that he walked away from there before I could say anything else to him. I looked back at Maria who had a smile on her lips and a knowing look on her face.

"What are you thinking?" I asked curiously but tried not to sound too interested while I checked in the stuffs.

"You know my hair didn't turn white because of the air. I've lived long enough to see things. That boy is in love with you." She stated, so sure of herself but I shook my head.

"You wouldn't be saying that if you knew him." Her face was calm but her eyes were brightly shining.

"You will find out soon, dear."


	9. Declaration Of Love

 

 

**Chapter 8: Declaration Of Love**

 

Just as Reid had said, he stayed around the store until I finished my shift. We started walking towards the dorm together. For the first few minutes, an awkward silence lingered between us. Both of us wanted to talk but neither could for some unknown reason. It was unusual and strange because we always have something to talk about. I also noticed from the corner of my eyes that Reid opened his mouth quite a few times but shut it without saying a word. I desperately felt the need to dissolve this uneasiness between us.

"Where's Tyler?" The question got out of my mouth before I could shut it. It was really stupid of me to ask that question because I already knew that Tyler went out with Melody. Reid glanced at me for once before replying.

"He went out with Melody; thought you already knew that." Thankfully Reid didn't smirk this time as I made a fool of myself but still it was no less embarrassing. How could I forget that I was talking with Tyler about his date today right in front of him? So obviously Reid knew that I knew where Tyler was. I didn't speak further in fear that I'd again say something stupid. I never acted like this before. Perhaps, I wasn't feeling good or maybe I didn't get enough sleep last night? Whatever the reason was but my heart was beating twice much faster than usual for reasons unknown to me.

"Tyler and Melody are perfect for each other. Baby boy finally found his dream girl and the credit goes to you entirely." Reid said suddenly. It was his attempt to start a conversation between us perhaps. I felt my cheeks heating up all on a sudden. But why was I blushing anyway? Was it because of what Reid said to me which was kind of a compliment? Or was it because he was suddenly looking straight at me and his gaze was doing something unfamiliar to me? The wind was blowing heavily and the sky started to get dark too. It would rain soon. I didn't know what possessed me or was it the weather that made me suddenly say-

"I'm looking forward to meet your dream girl now." Reid scoffed at that.

"I do dream about girls but I don't have a dream girl. You above all people should know that Rayna." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Right, I forgot." I said sarcastically. But suddenly I felt a strange little urge and couldn't help but ask him.

"So, are you planning on asking out that red head bimbo?" I was talking about the new girl. I caught Reid looking at her quite a few times and each time I felt extremely irritated and a bit hurt as well.

"What makes you think I want to date her?" Reid asked straight away with a smirk on his perfect lips.

"Let me think, umm...maybe because she is stylish and an eye candy. She stays covered in make ups 24x7, wears sexy revealing dresses. She knows how to seduce men and pleasure them. In one word she's a total player and a perfect match for you." I released the breath I was holding in during the talk. Reid threw a perfect glare at me but that only made me smirk at him.

"Why on earth would I want to date a girl like that?" He looked extremely irritated now but I shrugged my shoulders at him nonchalantly.

"Well your previous girlfriends or hook ups were exactly like that." I presented my reason clearly. Suddenly I had to stop walking because a hand caught my wrist. I turned to face Reid and looked up at him with confusion in my eyes. Why did he suddenly stop me? I didn't have to figure out the answer on my own as Reid leaned closer to me and whispered into my ear with a low seductive voice. His hot breath teased my sensitive skin and I almost shivered visibly.

"I think I'd like to try something new now." His voice was low yet smooth and laced with what seemed like desire.

This sudden change in Reid definitely didn't make the situation any better for me. A loud thunder cracked up in the sky with a bolt of lightening. I practically jumped up and got closer to Reid more without even realizing it. He smirked at me for that of course. Soon the rain drops started to pour from the sky. We were slowly getting soaked but neither of us could move. His intense eyes kept me rooted on the spot. I didn't even realize when he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him. We were standing so close now that our bodies were touching.

Before I knew it, Reid leaned towards my face and I on the other hand reacting on my instincts, closed my eyes. I felt his soft tender lips brushing against mine for the first time. A ticklish feeling started to spread throughout my body. Reid kissed me once, then pulled back a little to see my reaction. It was a small sweet kiss but I've never been kissed before so that one small kiss threatened to drive me insane. I felt like my entire body was on fire suddenly. I couldn't think of anything. I couldn't think straight at all.

When Reid noticed me so lost and overwhelmed; not to mention so vulnerable, he kissed me again. This time it wasn't just a small peck. It lasted longer than before but it was still innocent and sweet. I wasn't responding to Reid though because I was in too much shock to do that. Also I didn't know what to do either. But I didn't push him away as I should have. As I would have if I was in my right senses; _I think_. But I must admit, it was really amazing what one simple kiss could do to you? It didn't take Reid long to get me to move along with him. Soon our bodies were pressed against each other leaving no space between us at all. I had both my arms wrapped around his neck. One hand tangled in his wet but still soft and silky blonde hair. Our lips were moving against each other in sync. What else could be more romantic? We were kissing in the rain on the sidewalk of the road.

The kiss didn't remain so innocent though when I started to kiss Reid back. I felt him licking my lower lip for access in my mouth. I hesitated for a moment but Reid wasn't ready to wait. He bit on my bottom lip lightly and it made me gasp. My lips automatically parted and he got the chance to put his tongue in my mouth. I felt him smirk in the kiss. Again I had no idea what to do. For a few seconds he guided me and like a good student I learned. Then I started to response to the kiss like an expert after a while. He must have thought that I was a really quick learner. I blushed at the thought myself.

I was still in a daze. If I had my mind working properly then I'd have slapped him away in the first attempt. But that never happened instead the kiss got more passionate and intense and wild. Suddenly another thunder cracked loudly. It brought back my senses which I couldn't find during the kiss. The realization of what we were doing hit me hard enough. I pushed Reid away from me right away and started running towards the dorms as fast as I could. People stared at me confusedly when I made my way to my room. I got inside and shut the door behind me. I slid down the door and dropped myself on the floor. I was panting hard. I was wet and shivering from the cold but at that moment I didn't care about any of them. All I could think about was what just happened between me and Reid.

"What the hell just happened?" I whispered to myself. My head started spinning and I could even hear my own heart beating loudly into my ears. Suddenly someone started to knock loudly on my door. I heard Reid yelling from the other side of it. I wasn't ready to face him yet. Heck I'd never be able to face him again. I prayed that he'd just go away and leave me alone. But he stayed there and kept banging on the door.

"Rayna, open the god damn door. I want to talk to you. I won't leave until I talk to you. Rayna!"

I knew the way he was banging on my door and yelling loudly, it created quite a scene outside and the students on the floor must be enjoying it very much. So in the end, I had no choice but to open the door. I unlocked the knob but didn't open the door. Instead I turned away to face the wall on the opposite direction. I just didn't want to see his face that moment. I wrapped my arms around myself and tried to stop shaking. I couldn't tell anymore if the shaking was from cold or my overwhelmed feelings. I sensed him stepping inside the room and he shut the door behind him. I didn't have the courage to look at him so I kept pretending that he wasn't there. And just as expected, it only angered Reid more when he saw me facing away from him. He yanked my arm with great force and turned me around to face him.

"How long will it take for you to get it that I LOVE you?" He grabbed both of my arms and brought me closer to him. He said each word with extra pressure on it.

"And how long you have decided to ignore your feelings for me?" He asked loudly. I had my head lowered for the lack of answers to his questions.

"Look at me." He growled out. It was really scary and made me look up at him immediately. Reid was angry; very angry. And it was not a good thing at all.

"I don't know what you are talking about." I said. It was actually an attempt to ease his anger but I didn't quite say the right thing obviously which made him more mad.

"You bloody well know what I am talking about Rayna. I love you and I know that you love me too. So why do you keep resisting me?" His hands on my arms were creating bruises on my skin now. He held me so tightly that it was really hurting me. Though I didn't say anything but my eyes started getting watery from the pain. Reid only noticed the pain or acknowledged it when a whimper escaped my throat unintentionally. He let go of my arms with a jerk. The force made me stumble back a few steps. He still had a very angry look on his face which looked really dangerous.

I was scared. Unknowingly but instinctively I started backing away from Reid. But after a while my back hit the wall. Then he approached me as a predator would approach its prey and stood right in front of me. I was trapped. Reid closed the remaining distance between us and pressed his body against mine. He whispered into my ear huskily which sounded very sexy yet very dangerous at the same time.

"I can't stand your rejection anymore." I gulped down my nervousness at that. He put his hands on the wall on either of my sides and caged me like that.

"Ask yourself, if you really don't love me then why do you feel jealous when I look at the red head bimbo or any other girl for that matter?" He kissed my lips lightly for one last time and then simply walked out of the room. Leaving my body in a paralyzed state but a panicking mind.


	10. Let's Confess

 

 

**Chapter 9: Let's Confess**

 

I couldn't sleep at all the entire night. Not even a little bit. I kept thinking about what happened, what Reid said to me and what I really felt for him. Those thoughts ran over my mind again and again throughout the night. I couldn't deny it anymore that I liked his presence around me. I liked talking to him; I liked his stupid jokes, cocky remarks, his infamous yet attractive smirks, and his immaturity. I liked everything about him. I even loved arguing with him. Since the beginning of the semester, I couldn't help but be jealous when he looked at other girls and I was absolutely annoyed when other girls batted their eye lashes seductively at him.

A few days back, I couldn't take my eyes off of his body when he was swimming in the pool with others. I was never attracted to his physical appearance before. Surely I saw him half naked many times last year but I never felt the need to observe him closely the way I did that time in the pool. I shamelessly let my eyes roam over his lean yet muscular body and memorized every curve and line on it. I had a feeling that he caught me looking at him but when he didn't say anything stupid to me, I simply assumed that he didn't notice me observing his body so closely. And darn I was thankful for it. I cared about him a lot no doubt in that. And the way I feared to lose him at the beginning of the year. There was no explanation for that either. But the real question was-

"Am I in love with Reid Garwin?" And only one answer came back from my heart and soul was-

"YES!"

I was kind of surprised at myself that it took me so long to realize this. It seemed Reid was right after all. I was indeed denying my feelings for him. I fell in love with him a long time ago but I wasn't admitting it to myself. However, when I accepted the feeling, I began to fear something else. I knew for a matter of fact that Reid wasn't the most trustworthy person when it involves a girl and her feelings. Reid was quite good at breaking a girl's heart. He did that quite a few times before and it was definitely not impossible for him to do it again even if it was me this time. He was afraid of any kind of commitment and liked to be free like a rebellious teenager. And that's the way he was actually. It was hard for me to completely trust him with my heart. I loved him more than anything else, true and I knew that he would be the only man I could ever love. It wasn't just a teenager's crush for me. I knew this for sure that if Reid ever left me, I would never be able to move on from him.

What Reid thought about me was important for me to know. He said that he loved me but saying that to someone was not a big deal for him. The real question was, did he really mean it? Or was he just fooling around with me? Did he hang around with me for one long year for this? I couldn't take a risk of confessing my feelings to him until I got the truth. I needed to know his true feelings for me. Because if it was just a game for him or he was not really serious about love, then I didn't want to confess my true feelings and then make a fool out of myself in front of him and everyone else. In the end, I planned to just ignore Reid until I found him reliable enough.

So, the next day I ignored Reid like a plague. It hurt me more than it hurt him. I was certain of that. I felt him staring at me in the classes, boring his gaze into me whenever he could. He was even looking at me now and then in the cafeteria when I was sitting with Troy and intentionally avoided his gazes. Troy was planning his next date with Angela. He was saying things to me but I couldn't hear any of it. Troy obviously noticed me absentminded and knew something was wrong right away.

"Did anything happen between you and Reid?" He asked suddenly and it brought my attention back to him immediately. I quickly shook my head, not really wanting to bother him with my dilemmas but Troy didn't let go of the issue so easily.

"Don't lie to me Rayna. I have noticed it- you are ignoring him since this morning. What happened?" I sighed out slowly but heavily. Maybe talking to someone would help me out after all and Troy was the best person to talk with about it. I knew he would understand me properly, so I explained everything to him. Like a good listener Troy listened to my each and every word very carefully and tried to understand the situation and my own conflicted feelings properly. So, after I finished explaining myself to him, I looked at Troy hopefully and prayed that he would have some kind of solutions to my problems. For a few moments he didn't say anything at all and seemed deep in thoughts.

"You are definitely in love with him" stated Troy confidently and I could barely stop myself from rolling my eyes at him. I already knew that. I didn't need a confirmation.

"Troy, I already know that. But, that's not what I am worried about." My voice dripped out the frustration that was working within me. I felt like a love sick teenager and at that moment that was exactly what I was. Troy continued talking though.

"I know, I know, you want to know about his true feelings for you before you confess your love for him." I nodded my head slowly, appreciating Troy for understanding me so easily.

"Well what do you think I should do, to find out his true feelings for me?" I asked Troy for his suggestion and advice. He took a deep breath before speaking up again.

"Well the way he changed over the year and the way he looks at you, I don't know, maybe he is in love with you too and not really playing around" said Troy with an unsure tone of voice that didn't help the situation a bit. And 'a maybe' was definitely not good enough for me. I could not walk up to Reid Garwin above all people and say that 'I love you' based on a maybe.

"I don't think he is actually in love with me. Maybe...I don't know...maybe he just got a crush on me. Or maybe it's just an infatuation and it will be over before we know it. I mean come on, I am not his type at all. How could he possibly ever fall in love with me?" I was not only reasoning with Troy but myself as well. However, Troy let out a sigh at my stubbornness.

"Rayna, it's not always necessary that you will only fall in love with someone your type. I mean look at yourself, Reid is not your type at all but still you love him, you fell in love with him. Maybe it's the same for him too. He wouldn't have changed himself so much if he only had a crush on you. He changed himself completely just to gain your love Rayna. I think you would be unfair to him if you doubt his love for you like this."

Now that was something I never thought about before. Of course I would have hated Reid for his arrogance and selfishness if I hadn't got close to him in the first place. He was obnoxious and a total insensitive jerk sometimes. But he changed his nature and his behavior to get close to me. To make me like him and love him. He did so much to gain my love and trust but I was still questioning him and his love for me. I felt like I was the dumbest person alive on the face of the earth. But there was something deep inside me that was nagging me continuously, telling me not to give in so easily. That something was going on wrong. But I avoided that feeling completely and asked Troy for one last time.

"So, I should give in?" I have already decided what I would do but I still asked Troy and hoped that he would say yes right away.

"Only if you won't start ignoring me afterwards." Troy could be terribly adorable sometimes. I smiled at him widely and hit him on the arm playfully.

"That will never happen." I pulled Troy closer to me and gave him a tight sisterly hug. But while hugging him I looked over at Reid and saw him glaring daggers at us. I couldn't help but smile at that though. He was burning with jealousy at the sight of me embracing Troy. It only confirmed his love for me more. I saw him leaving the room in a rush while shoving people out of his way aggressively. I wanted to go after him because Reid could never control his actions when he was angry. Sometimes he would get hurt himself. But, I stayed behind when I saw Tyler going after him. I would rather let Tyler calm Reid down because I was sort of scared of Reid when he was angry to such extent.

Reid ignored me for the rest of the day and I also avoided him at any cost. I planned to talk to him the next day after the classes. We needed a lot of talking to do and clear all the misunderstandings between us. The mere thought of talking to Reid made my skin tickle and goose bumps spread throughout my body. At night, I couldn't sleep with the tension about what would happen tomorrow when I would go to Reid and finally confess my feelings for him. It was after mid night when suddenly someone knocked at my door. I was quite startled and surprised at that. Who needed to see me at this hour of the night? I got both worried and scared. I opened the door slowly and found a very drunk Reid leaning against the door frame. He was so drunk that he couldn't even stand properly. I wondered how he made it to my floor in the first place. I had to carry him inside my room which turned out to be a very difficult job to do as Reid was trying hard to push me away from him and being rather aggressive. He would pass out anytime now but I somehow managed to settle him down on the bed.

"Why the hell are you drunk?" I asked in a scolding tone. He was so stupid sometimes that it pissed me off to no limits. And where the hell did he get so much alcohol anyway? After all he was still an underage for drinking.

"Why do you care?" He yanked his arm out of my grip angrily and increased the distance between us. I sighed out heavily to myself and crossed my arms over my chest as I stood in front of him while he kept mumbling nonsense. At first I couldn't understand anything that he was saying with his drunken voice but when I concentrated and listened carefully, I heard him talking with an accusing tone of voice.

"I am drunk because the girl I am in love with, doesn't love me at all. She cares about everyone else except for me..." He kept complaining and complaining restlessly. It was so immature but I loved him so much when he said those things. Slowly I sat beside him and got closer to him. This time, he didn't try to get away from me instead he bored his gaze into mine.

"The girl I love, hates me, ignores me….." but before he could say anything else, I pressed my lips softly on his. My own action startled me but he wasn't shocked at all and started to kiss me back right away. We kissed for some time before I pulled back my lips from his mouth in order to speak and breathe deeply.

"The girl who you fell in love with, she also fell in love with you Reid." Our foreheads were pressed against each other. I cupped his face with both my hands lovingly and caressed his cheeks lightly with my thumbs.

"How do you know?" Reid asked me in a whisper. I could smell alcohol in his breath but I ignored that at the time.

"I talked to her." I said and we both chuckled a little at that. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer to him as much as possible. Then before I knew it, he pressed his lips against mine for another hot and passionate kiss. I kissed him back with everything I had within me. The kiss was slow and sweet but also filled with longing and passion and it lasted for quite a long time. After a while, he fell asleep on my bed. I positioned him properly and covered him with the duvet. I used the other spared bed in the room to sleep in that night. Sleeping with Reid in the same bed didn't seem right at that time to me when he was so drunk. I drifted off to sleep slowly, thinking about how everything changed so suddenly. I just hoped that the changes happened for the good.


	11. Happy Birthday

 

 

**Chapter 10: Happy Birthday**

 

The following morning, I woke up first. Reid was still sleeping peacefully. It was Sunday so there wasn't any class for the day. The day was special for me because it was my birthday. The orphanage sister found me on this day exactly sixteen years ago and since then it had become my birth date. I never told anyone here about my birthday, so I wasn't expecting anyone to wish me. I wasn't too religious but I believed in god and every year on my birthday I would go to a church and pray. It was sort of a habit of mine that I had developed during my stay at the orphanage. So, getting up from the bed; I went to the bathroom to take a nice and warm shower. Thankfully the little attached bathroom in my room, also got a shower system in it. I never had to go to the girls' common shower room since I came here.

It didn't take me long to get ready for my day. However, before getting out of the room, I walked over to Reid and planted a soft kiss on his forehead. My eyes were full of love for him. He stirred a little in his sleep but didn't wake up. At that moment, he looked absolutely adorable to me. I closed the door lightly behind me after getting out of the room. Careful about not making any sound. I made my way out of the dorm building and just as I expected no one was up so early in the Sunday morning. Because of that the whole building seemed empty and I felt like I was alone.

I went straight to the local church that wasn't very far from Spenser campus. The church was completely empty. I lit some candles and knelt in front of the stage. My eyes were close but I felt someone's presence in the room. I thought the person must be the church's father but I was wrong, it was Reid who came there. I was actually quite surprised to see him in the church and wondered how he found me here. Reid wrapped his arms around me from behind and put his face in the carve of my neck, inhaling my scent with a deep breath and sighed contently.

"Hey, what are you doing here? It's so early in the morning" said Reid. He still sounded a bit sleepy. I faced him with a smile tugging on my lips. I was enjoying the warmth of his body very much in his tight embrace.

"How did you find me here?" I asked really wanting to know the answer because there was no way he could know where I was in the first place. But Reid just smirked at me.

"Just followed your scent." He said and I couldn't help but roll my eyes playfully at him. I took his hand in mine and intertwined our fingers together. Then we started to walk towards the church gate to get out of there.

"So why did you come here?" Reid asked again but this time with more curiosity. It took me a few moments to decide weather I should or shouldn't tell him the real reason. I easily decided not to tell him because knowing Reid, he would make it a huge deal and I didn't want that.

"Nothing special!" I said sheepishly and shrugged my shoulders at him nonchalantly. But Reid didn't look convinced at all. He bored his intense gaze into my eyes as if trying to hypnotize me and for a moment, I was truly and completely dazzled.

"I never saw you coming here before." Reid stated firmly and also made it clear that he wasn't going to let it go so easily. I knew that he would nag me the entire day if I didn't tell him the truth. I sighed heavily and gave up-

"I come to a church to get god's blessings, every year...on my birthday." Just as I said that, Reid froze that moment and he stared at me with disbelieving eyes. Both of his perfect eyebrows raised up at me slowly and almost dramatically. He was really stunned. Though 'Shock' would be the most proper word to describe the expression on his face.

"Today's your birthday?" He asked me still not being able to believe his own ears.

"Yeah, but why do you look so shocked? It's not a big deal Reid." I said but my lover only scowled at me angrily for that.

"Not a big deal?...Are you kidding me? Why the hell didn't you tell me before?" He suddenly started pacing in front of me and also looked kind of panicked.

"Shit! How come I forgot to find out? Stupid…stupid…stupid!" Reid kept scolding himself. It looked so comical that I could barely stop myself from laughing out. Then suddenly he stopped pacing because an idea just came into his mind.

"Come on!" He said and he practically dragged me out of the church in rush.

"I may not know this before but I won't let the day get wasted any more." Reid said. He had brought Tyler's hummer with him. We got in and he dialed Tyler's number quickly and told him the breaking news. Tyler spoke so loudly in shock after hearing that it's my birthday today that even I could hear his yelling from the speaker. Poor Reid, had to put the phone away from his ear. No wonder that Tyler was as much shocked as Reid was. Reid asked Tyler to tell everyone else immediately and arrange for a grand party. He put the phone back in his pocket and looked at me again.

"I wanted to ask you out on a date today but I know you would like to celebrate your birthday with everyone. So we will have a party tonight instead." He said with seriousness in his voice but actually he was trying not to be over excited.

"Reid you really don't have to-" but before I could finish, he crushed his lips on mine and stopped me from saying anything else. I gave into his kiss right away and completely melted in his arms. I also wrapped my own arms around his neck and pulled him as much closer to me as possible. Much to my disappointment, Reid pulled away before the kiss could get more passionate or intense. Suddenly, an empty feeling consumed me for a moment.

"Happy birthday!" Reid wished me in a low husky voice that released butterflies into my stomach. Before I knew it, Reid pressed his lips against mine again, more forcefully than last time but I welcomed it anyway with as much enthusiasm as before. This time we didn't stop, our lips molded against each other. His tongue invaded my mouth wildly, dominating all my senses. It drew a moan from me. We kept tasting each others lips until we both ran out of air but that wasn't the end of it. We kept kissing each other and the make out ended after almost an hour. After the heated making out session Reid drove us back to the dorms where everyone was waiting of us eagerly.

All my friends got busy arranging for the party. While the boys planned for the party place, time and all the other arrangements; the girls took me to the town's shopping mall in order to buy a new dress for the party. They forced me to buy a very revealing dress. It was a knee length shiny black silk dress that bared my shoulders perfectly.

"Reid would love this!" Kate commented about the dress. Everyone in the group knew already that Reid and I were officially a couple now.

"It would look absolutely great on you" agreed Melody and shared a knowing smile with Kate. They also shared a knowing look with each other. Obviously I noticed it right away.

"Hey, I am not planning on seducing Reid tonight." I blushed like a ripe red tomato as I said that. The girls giggled at my shyness and teased me more. By the time they were done teasing me about Reid, Angela feared that I would start bleeding from my cheeks. I looked that much red from blushing. That day, I found a new me. I was converting into a shy type person slowly and unknowingly. I would blush every time Reid's name came up. I turned into a girl madly in love. The whole conception of being in love was new to me but enjoyable nevertheless. My whole life I did whatever I liked, however I liked it. I never tried to impress anyone else but me, ever. But suddenly, I was changing. I was changing for Reid.

The party took place at Nicky's at the night. Reid was going to pick me up from the dorms. Everyone else was already there, starting the party. I was waiting impatiently for Reid in my room. I wore the new dress and matching black high heels. I had my hair styled in a French bun which was done expertly by Kate. I was really nervous about my appearance. Mostly because of what Reid would think about it. I heard a knock on the door and my heart suddenly started to pump madly. After calming my nerves down enough and taking in a few deep breaths, I slowly opened the door and there he was, Reid Garwin, looking handsome and hot as always. His eyes roamed over me openly and I gulped down the nervousness in me.

"Wow!" Came out of his lips as he stepped inside the room. He wrapped one arm around my waist and brought me close to him suddenly. I slammed against his chest lightly as his other hand started to roam over my shoulder blade seductively. As if he was trying to memorize every pore on my skin with his bare hand.

"I really should have spent the time alone with you." He whispered in my ear huskily and brushed his soft lips against my sensitive spot, making my spine shiver successfully.

"Reid, we are getting late for the party." I said closing my eyes and letting myself enjoy the sensation that he was creating oh so expertly.

"Let everyone wait a bit." Reid whispered into my ear again and resumed to plant butterfly kisses on my neck and shoulders slowly. I couldn't help but wrap my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to me more. He left my skin and captured my lips for a hungry and urgent kiss. He bit onto my bottom lip desperately, asking for access in my mouth, which I granted him immediately. Our tongues started dancing with each other and I moaned loudly in the kiss because it was driving me crazy. All the sensation and passion was making me lose my mind. But before things could get more heated, Reid's cell phone went off and broke the ecstatic moment. He muttered some curses under his breath and received the call. It was Tyler who had called him.

"What?" Reid yelled in annoyance and a bit of anger as well.

"Where's the birthday girl man? You are not planning on keeping her all to yourself tonight, are you?" Tyler spoke from the other side of the phone.

"Yeah we are on our way." Reid said and put the phone back in his pocket. He looked at me hoping to resume what was stopped by the phone call but there was no chance for that.

"Come on lover boy. We have a party to attain." I dragged him out of the room before he could attack me again with mind dazzling kisses. At the party, we all had fun until late night. We danced on different music and songs. Reid taught me how to play pool as I had no idea about the game before. He didn't get into trouble that night with Aaron which was really surprising for everyone especially me. Sadly, Caleb had no partner to dance with, so I dragged him to the dance floor. He protested at first but then gave in and we danced for a while. Then Kate joined us too. But when Reid started to dance with me in a slow song everyone else left the dance floor and surrounded us. I felt nervous at first but Reid was a very good dancer and he soon made me forget all about the people around us. It seemed to me that it was just him and me dancing on the floor. Then the song changed and everyone joined us again.

At the end of the party almost everyone was a bit drunk except for me and Melody. Neither of us touched alcohol. Reid was drunk the most among us. I did get mad at him when he wasn't stopping. Caleb was good so he drove Pogue, Kate, Jessica and Michael to the dorm. Melody drove me, Reid, Tyler, Angela and Troy in the hummer. Melody and I had to help Tyler and Reid get back to their dorm room. The room was pretty messy, nothing surprising about that though. I settled Reid on his bed and Melody did the same with Tyler. I took off some of his clothes and shoes to make him comfortable. Reid looked so adorable in his sleep that I couldn't help it and bent to kiss his lips. I ran my hand lovingly trough his already messy hair. Then after giving him one last kiss, I got out of the room. Melody joined me after a while, blushing brightly.

"What?" I asked smiling.

"He said I love you when I kissed him." I wish Reid had said that to me as well but he was way too drunk to talk. We said good byes to each other and went to our separate rooms. It had been a long night and I just wanted to go to sleep. In the sleep I dreamed about Reid and I together, holding our hands. And I was wearing a wedding dress and we were getting married. I believed in my heart that the dream would come true one day.


	12. Making Of Love

 

 

**Chapter 11: Making Of Love**

 

Most people would say that their lives are full of problems and never ending miseries. They complain a lot about it everyday. But my life couldn't get any better than it already was. After getting into a relation with Reid; everything suddenly seemed just perfect. Everyone appreciated our relation and said that we were made for each other. I never believed in the 'made for each other' concept before. But now whenever I looked at Reid and he would look back at me, I just knew in my heart that we really were made for each other. My heart and soul belonged to him. He was an angel for me, a god's gift and I could give up my life for him any time, without thinking for a second.

As days slowly passed by, I began to receive glares from the girls who got a crush on Reid just like Kate and Melody. But unlike them it never bothered me. Moreover, I would get happy every time Reid would walk through the cafeteria, holding my hand and bluntly ignoring the inviting stares from those overtly hot looking girls. It confirmed me more that Reid loved me and only me. The mere thought that someone would snatch him away from me was a horrible nightmare for me. I trusted him more than I trusted myself. I believed completely and undoubtedly that Reid would never let my heart break.

After Reid and I got together that left only Caleb single in our group. We were very eager to see who the lucky girl would be. I had a feeling that she would come in Caleb's life very soon and she will be perfect for him. But no matter what Troy was closest to me. Our friendship was greater than anything else. He was my closest best friend and he cared a lot about me. And the good thing was Angela understood his care for me. She knew Troy loved me like his own sister. So she never complained or got jealous about our relation. Actually Angela liked me herself. So it just all worked out perfectly.

However, Reid was different though in this matter. He didn't like it a bit when I'm hanging out with Troy. But Reid knew too as well as everyone else that me and Troy, we were just friends. I loved Reid more than myself but I couldn't just drop my friends for him. That wouldn't be the right thing to do. Troy and others came in my life long before Reid. They helped me survive in this stranger place, made me feel at home. And I wouldn't give up my friendship with anyone just because Reid was being an immature idiot and a total jealous boyfriend. Though Reid would often argue with me about this but when I would get too angry and gave him a silent treatment (means not talking to him at all), he would start apologizing to me on his own. And after sometimes I would give in and we would go back to be normal again. Everything was just so simple and beautiful in our innocent love relation.

About the other aspect of our relation, so far Reid and I didn't do anything more than kissing and it has been two months since our relationship started. For me our being with each other was enough. It seemed a unique bond to me that we shared with no complications in it at all. It was only love and nothing else. There was no physical need in it, only care for each other, well at least for me. Though, sometimes I would feel that something was missing in our love life. It was so perfect that I sometimes wondered why? For the first month everything went smoothly, we were taking every step slowly. Or as the saying goes, taking baby steps. But as more days passed by Reid grew quite impatient and wanted to rush everything between us. I felt sometimes that Reid was worried about something. But whenever I asked him about what was bothering him, he would just ignore me or change the topic intentionally. We even started to ague more often, mostly because he had said something stupid or did something idiotic in his desperation and frustration.

During past few days Reid's behavior forced me to think that he was hiding something very important from me. It seemed that he was running out of time for something but god knew what. He would never answer my questions properly involving this topic. That day was no exception. Reid was again being jealous of Troy as usual. It was very cold outside and raining heavily and we were in my dorm room, fighting-

"I don't like it at all." Reid yelled at me loudly, anger clearly visible in his eyes and voice.

"Stop being such an idiot Reid." I snapped at him angrily because I was losing my temper too.

"You spend way too much time with him than necessary." Reid was accusing me of spending too much time with Troy. This topic was getting on my last nerve recently.

"He wanted to buy something nice for Angela so I helped him out, what's the big deal?" I rolled my eyes at Reid with annoyance and sighed out heavily in frustration.

"That doesn't mean you have to spent the whole weekend with him, not to mention you didn't even receive my calls." I didn't ignore his calls intentionally. Why would I do that?

"I was in a restaurant for god's sake. The music was loud so I didn't hear the phone ringing but when I called back as soon as I realized, you were the one who didn't receive my calls." I was being honest with him but he was too angry to understand anything and reasoning with him seemed futile at that moment.

"You can hear the phone ringing whenever he calls no matter where you are." Reid argued back with venom in his voice. I shook my head to myself and inhaled a deep breath to calm my own temper down.

"Angela never complains about anything." I again tried to make him realize that Troy got Angela and loved her very much. He would never leave her for me. But the way Reid was, he took the whole thing in a different way.

"Well, maybe she is okay with sharing her boyfriend with another girl, and perhaps right now its you." Now who wouldn't get pissed off at that? I glared at Reid angrily.

"Reid enough is enough. Troy is my best friend but I would never think of him that way. If you had any girl best friend then I wouldn't have questioned you. But you just don't want to understand me. He is like my brother, just like Tyler and Caleb." That silenced him thankfully and he seemed to be calming down as well. I closed my eyes shut tightly and opened them after taking in a few deep breaths.

"Reid, if you doubt me like this then where's the truth of our love." My eyes were getting teary slowly. Why Reid's so over possessive? I really didn't like that.

"You have my whole heart Reid and no one can ever replace your place in here." Saying that, I prepared to get out of the room. I didn't want to fight him anymore. But I couldn't get far from him because his hand on my arm stopped me from opening the door and getting out of the room. Though, I was facing away from him but he turned me around slowly. My anger was easing off as well and he looked completely calm now. Reid slowly wrapped his arms around me and brought me close to him. I didn't resist the pull and rested my forehead against his muscular chest. I could listen to his heart, beating in a rhythm. It was slow and steady that brought peace to my mind.

"I am sorry. I was jealous. I just don't want to share you with anyone." I would never understand why Reid feared losing me so much.

"You know I am only yours." I said melting in his warmth and inhaling his sweet yet musky scent. I always liked the way he smelled.

"Please forgive me this time. I would never act like today again, ever. I promise." Reid promised. I looked up to meet his eyes.

"Promise me that you will never doubt me." It was the most important thing to me that he trusts me like I trusted him.

"I promise. I love you." He said and without wasting any time he leaned in closer to my lips and kissed me passionately. At that moment, I chose to ignore the fact that he was taking things really fast. I also reached up to meet his kiss desperately. I was feeling a bit numb that day, didn't know the reason though. As we kept kissing more heatedly, I totally lost control on myself. The kiss started to get wild and wild and more passionate with each passing second. Reid could never stay in control whenever we are making out. He always tries to take things further. It was always me who would put a stop but that time when he was seducing me I couldn't find the will in me to stop him. He moved us towards the bed and I let him without a second thought to it. I kept saying that we should stop but he put a finger on my lips and silenced me.

"Sssshhhhh…. I know you want me. I know you want this." I tried to push him away after hearing that but not with hundred percent effort.

"No I don't-" I wanted to say something strongly and with firmness but it only came out as a whisper, laced with doubtfulness. Reid smirked against my skin as he realized my conflicted state of mind at that time. He kept planting butterfly kisses on my neck and shoulder, making me shiver in his arms with pleasure. It was enough to drive me crazy. He was touching me like no one has ever touched me before. And no one did, so it was all the more exhilarating for me. And I couldn't help but want more. It just felt so right to me.

"Let me complete you." He whispered into my ear with seductive husky voice. His tone held amazing firmness in it as if he was commanding me to give in and I simply couldn't go against his order. Reid started to kiss me again on my lips. I stopped pushing him away and pulled him closer to my body willingly. I was not a hormonal teenager but I wanted, no needed him that time, desperately. He was successfully turning me on and made me moan for him. He whispered things to me that I could hardly hear because of the things I was feeling. Soon enough I found myself lying on the bed with Reid hovering over me and we were half naked. We never got into that position before. I felt his hands touching my most personal places. I became nervous and stiffed a little underneath him. Reid looked straight into my eyes first and then whispered in my ear.

"I won't hurt you. Let me take you." I didn't know weather I nodded or not but he began to undress me more. I was scared like hell but I knew that it was too late for backing out. It hurt me a little emotionally that Reid wasn't being as careful with me as he should be, as I wanted him to. I wanted things very slow and gentle. I was a virgin after all. But Reid was rushing into things lustfully. The pain that spread through my body at first penetration was indescribable. Reid however never stopped to see if I was alright or not. For a moment I doubted his love for me. He was acting as if he just got something that he wanted to get for a long time.

Thankfully, when after a while I adjusted with the new changes in my body, like losing my virginity that I started to feel the pleasure as well. Every suspecting thought that consumed my mind a while ago flew out of my head right away. Reid was getting wild with every passing minute and I didn't have any reason to complain or stop him. Because I was enjoying that too. So, at last I lost my virginity to Reid Garwin. I was happy that I gave my virginity and dignity to the person I loved the most. By the time Reid finished, we were both sweating and panting heavily.

"I love you." I said calming down my heavy breathing. He rolled over me but didn't leave my side and wrapped his arm around me protectively and whispered in my ear-

"You are wonderful Rayna, I love you too." I kissed him for the last time and fell asleep peacefully.

When I woke up, I couldn't remember anything at first and freaked out to find myself wrapped up only in a bed sheet. Then I remembered what happened last night and a smile spread on my lips. But it disappeared when I couldn't find Reid in the room with me. I assumed that he must have gone back to his room to clean up or something. After all I woke up the next day when it was getting dark already. I checked my cell phone and found twenty two missed calls and quite a few messages. Most of the missed calls were from Troy and Angela. But there wasn't any call or message from Reid though. I again thought that he must knew I was sleeping all day so he didn't try to call me and he would meet me later. I didn't have the patience to go through the messages so I put the cell phone away.

When I got up from the bed finally, I felt an unknown throbbing pain in between my legs. I carried myself to the bathroom slowly and took a nice shower. After I freshened up I looked at myself in the mirror. In the reflection I saw a girl whom I didn't know. She was a lot more beautiful then I was. She was someone else. She was Reid's. I couldn't see the untamed, untouched innocent girl anymore. In the mirror there was a girl who just gave up her everything to her love. The bite marks were still very much visible and some other kinds of bruises were there too on my body. I wondered why he was so rough with me. That wasn't exactly how I thought our first time would be. It happened so suddenly that I could barely remember everything. I realized how awfully tired I was so I got back to sleep again. I didn't want to look sleepy and tired for the classes tomorrow. But little did I know what fate had in store for me?


	13. The Betrayal

 

 

**Chapter 12: The Betrayal** _  
_

 

_Standing by the pool, Reid was talking with Aaron and his gang. They weren't there for swimming but to clear a deal._

" _Well, well, you finally did get into her pants" said Aaron smirking evilly while looking at his cell phone screen._

" _There is no way I would lose a bet with you Aaron." Reid shoved his hands inside his jeans pockets._

" _Why it took you so long Garwin? I thought I would have to throw a party for winning the bet." Aaron tried to act cool but looked clearly disappointed for losing the bet._

" _In your dreams, Aaron." Reid smirked at him. "Now, I believe you have something that rightfully belongs to me now." Aaron glared at Reid but threw his new car keys at him. Reid easily caught that and proceeded to leave._

" _How was it? Fucking her?" Aaron asked stopping Reid in his tracks. "I think I will have my own experience soon." Reid never stopped smirking but his eyes glared at Aaron._

" _Actually it was really great. The way she squirmed underneath me, it was fucking amazing. But you know what; I don't think she would allow you within ten feet near her. It took me one long year to get her in bed. So honestly your chance is out of question Aaron. She is not easy to fool around. You know the type of girls, 'beauty with brains'. They are really tough to handle. Besides, she is in love with me. She won't let anyone else touch her."_

" _Such a pig you are Garwin" said one of Aaron's sidekicks Brady. "The way you have been acting like a goody two shoes, even around your friends, I really thought you have changed."_

_Right then someone else entered the pool site. It was the red headed girl named Victoria. She went straight to Reid and wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his lips. The others watched them for a while before Aaron decided to interrupt their kissing session._

" _What about your friends, Garwin? They are really fond of her." Reid and Victoria both turned towards Aaron. Reid still had his arm wrapped around her._

" _So what? It's not like they didn't know anything about the bet. Surely, they didn't think I would win though. Besides we just had sex. It's not a big deal. They can stay friends if they want to." He said. Victoria kissed him again. An evil sweet smile lingered on her painted lips._

" _I don't think she will stay anywhere near you or your friends, after knowing the truth" said Brady. Reid scoffed at him darkly.  
_

" _Why? She is lucky that she got the chance to lose her big V to me, the one and only Reid Garwin. She should be grateful for it. I am pretty sure she would be begging me for a second time." He said and he looked at Victoria. A high pitched laugh erupted from her mouth._

I woke up screaming and crying. I was breathing heavily as I jolted up in a sitting position. I sighed in relief when I found myself in my room, still on the bed. What a horrible nightmare! And it seemed so real. How could I dream up something like that about Reid? I was soaked in my own sweat and tears. The sun wasn't up yet but I couldn't go back to sleep anymore. I paced around the room for a long time. For some unknown reason I couldn't calm down. The nightmare shook me pretty bad inside out. I was trying to make myself believe that it was just a dream, a very horrible dream.

In the morning, after getting ready for the classes I walked out of the room. I had to meet Reid before the classes would start for the day. I was getting a horrible feeling that something bad is about to happen. I called for the elevator and waited in front of the door. At that moment, a girl came up beside me and waited for the elevator as well. She was heading for her classes too obviously. I didn't know her but I have seen her face before around the campus. When she looked at me, I smiled at her; being polite. But she made me confused when she smirked at me in return. I frowned in confusion to myself and turned away from her smirking face. The elevator door opened and both of us got inside. I felt her stare on me and it was really uncomfortable.

"So, finally you let Reid win the bet." I scowled at her, totally confused but I felt a sick twist in my stomach at her statement.

"I beg your pardon." She sighed dramatically.

"You….. Let Reid…. win the bet… he had with Aaron." She said each word clearly and slowly as if I was a two year old.

"What bet?" I asked, getting a little irritated with the girl's continuous smirking at me and inwardly fearing as well about what I might hear from her.

"Oh come on! Did you really think that Reid was hanging around you because he loved you? How naive you could be! Or should I say stupid?" Okay, there was a huge possibility that she was lying. She must be one of Reid's fan girls. Those girls were expert in making nonsense stories when they get jealous.

"What do you mean?" I asked kind of rudely and glared at her heatedly. However, the girl just shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly at me and leaned against the elevator wall lazily.

"Aaron bet Reid last year that he couldn't get into your pants. Reid promised that he would get you in bed with him before the sophomore year ends and apparently he won the bet. He fucked you already, didn't he? The whole school is talking about it." I couldn't believe my own ears. My nightmare couldn't turn real. That was a dream, just a stupid dream. Was I dreaming up again? Did I fall asleep again? Maybe I never woke up in the first place. I tried to wake myself up by shaking my head roughly. The girl raised her eyebrows at me. I didn't find myself back in the room again. This was really happening.

"You're lying. I don't believe you." She shrugged her shoulders at me again.

"Suit yourself. You will find out the truth in no time." The girl said. I didn't want to admit it but I knew she wasn't lying. How else could she know that I slept with Reid? It became difficult for me to breath in the small confined space of the elevator. Tears forced to come out and my knees got weak. I couldn't think anything properly. My head was spinning so fast that I thought I would pass out anytime.

"Did everyone know about this? The bet." I didn't know why I asked her that. All I wanted to do was find out Reid and ask him about this. And hopefully I would find out that every thing this girl just said to me was bullocks, though the chances seemed thin even to me.

"Of course everyone knew about the bet." The girl answered me smoothly. "We really thought that Reid would lose this time. I mean it took a whole freaking year to get you in the bed. I must say you are a tough one. But who could resist Garwin, right?"

I couldn't stand there anymore and listen to her talks. The door opened in time and I ran out like crazy. I noticed people turning their eyes at me when I stepped inside the campus. Their gazes mocked me openly. It felt like the nightmare but even worse. How I wished to wake up and find out that everything was okay. But it wasn't just a dream anymore. It was happening in real. I walked in a fast pace through the crowd, avoiding the stares I was getting from the people around me. I knew where to look for Reid, so I headed straight towards the locker room. I couldn't bring myself to hate him yet because I refused to believe that he could hurt me like this. On the way I searched for the others too but couldn't find them anywhere.

I reached the locker room but stopped dead in my way. I spotted Reid near his locker but he wasn't standing there alone. The red headed girl Victoria was there with him. He had his arms wrapped around her waist, kissing her passionately. She was moaning in the kiss loudly. They didn't care about the people who were looking at them. They were so lost in making out that neither of them realized that I was standing right there, shaking with pain and hurt. Everything the girl said was true. It was all an act from the very beginning.

Everything suddenly made sense to me now. The evening at the Nicky's when I first insulted Reid. He made me insult him. It wasn't about hurting Angela. He wanted to draw my attention to him. Then I was forced to sit next to him. He got the teacher to ask me to tutor him. It successfully got him closer to me. He knew I wouldn't give in easily. At first he earned my trust as a friend. Then he made me fall in love with him. Every step was so well planned. Everything was such a huge lie. He never felt anything for me. His love was fake and so was our relation. His care for me was nothing but an act. All he ever wanted to do was get me in bed with him.

I couldn't stand there looking at him anymore. I walked away from there slowly, trying not to collapse when number of people were staring at me. Strangely I wasn't feeling a thing. The emotions stopped working within me. I felt like I was dead already. And perhaps I was. Everything around me was a blur and I couldn't hear a single sound. I felt cold and lost from inside. I was walking but I didn't know where my feet were taking me. I always thought that it required a gun or a knife to kill someone but Reid Garwin not only killed me but damaged my eternal soul also without using any of that. I was stopped in my way by Aaron. I snapped out of my depressing thoughts for a moment.

"Look who we have here, the new porn star of Spenser." Aaron announced loudly. Before I could understand what he was saying he held his cell phone in front of my eyes. Suddenly my heart stopped beating and my eyes got wide due to the shock. A small gasp escaped my lips. I was looking at myself in the picture, sleeping and completely naked without any piece of clothe on me. Just the way I was at that night. Reid gave Aaron some naked pictures of me as a proof that he really slept with me.

"Really sexy, I didn't know you look so hot without clothes on you." Aaron stepped closer to me. I felt his breathe on my face. My stomach dropped in disgust but I was too shocked to react. He was saying something to me but I couldn't hear any of it.

Suddenly Aaron was pushed away from me. I realized that it was Caleb who pushed him away and Tyler was right behind him. They got into a fight with Aaron right away but I didn't care about what was happening around me. I couldn't get a hold on anything anymore.

The next thing I knew, I was running like a crazy person through the woods that surrounded Spenser. I didn't know for how long I was running but when I stopped I couldn't feel my legs anymore. I shattered like a glass doll on the ground. I tried to scream out the pain I was feeling.

Everyone knew all along about the bet but no one ever told me about it. Not even Caleb, Tyler or Kate. Though I knew Troy and the others mustn't know about this, but at that moment I hated them all. How could I be so blind and not see it! How could I let him play with my heart! I felt a suffocating pressure inside my chest but tears weren't coming out. I needed to cry or the pain would drive me insane. I started to scratch my skin in frustration, making small cuts with my nails. I felt so dirty and sinful. I wanted to rip apart the skin where he touched me. I wanted to burn myself again and again. How I wanted him to touch me that night! I hated myself for that. There was no difference left between me and a slut. I couldn't take it anymore and started to walk again when I could. After some times I reached the cliff of Ipswich. I stood at the edge and recalled all the memories from the very beginning.

I didn't have any other choice but to choose the path of death. I couldn't go back to Spenser and face everyone. I didn't have that kind of courage in me. I didn't have any other place to go in this world. I was a lost soul anyway. I loved my life but now because of him I have to give it up. It is too painful to live now. Once I am dead none of this would matter. I won't feel any more pain. I loved this world and wished to live longer but it was too cruel for me now. I took a deep breathe. A trail of tear flowed down my cheek. I leaned forward, leaving the ground and letting the air engulf my body. I finally jumped off the cliff, hoping to find peace in the arms of death.


	14. Rumors Turned True

 

 

**Chapter 13: Rumors Turned True**

 

I took a deep breath. A trail of tear flowed down my cheek. I leaned forward, leaving the ground and letting the air engulf my body. I finally jumped off the cliff, hoping to find peace in the arms of death…..

I was falling down fast. The rush I felt at the moment was very comfortable. It eased the pain in my heart right away. I would hit the ground any moment and my damaged soul would leave this soiled body. But something happened during the time I was falling. Something went wrong. My eyes were closed so I didn't know exactly what happened but I stopped feeling the rush suddenly. I felt like everything stopped around me. Did I already hit the ground? _Am I already dead?_ If this was the feeling people got when they die then death is not painful at all.

I dared to slowly open my eyes; hoping to find myself in heaven. But when I did open up my eyes, I started to scream at the top of my lungs. I wasn't dead as I was supposed to. I never hit the ground in the first place rather I was floating in the air, not to mention a few feet above the ground. I had no idea how it happened. Maybe I was dreaming it up but it totally freaked me out. I landed on the ground like a feather, not breaking a single bone in my body, not even getting a little scratch. Before I could get a chance to hold onto the situation and understand what actually happened with me, my stomach started to twist painfully from the inside. I couldn't stand on my feet any longer and I started to throw up. The torture went on for sometime and dizziness filled up my head. Soon the darkness consumed me as I passed out for good.

* * *

I didn't know for how long I stayed unconscious or where I was at the moment? Bright light hit my eyes when I tried to open them, blinding me for a minute. I blinked rapidly to adjust with the light. Meanwhile, I heard people talking from all around me. When I could see properly, the first person I saw was a lady doctor, checking my pulse. Troy and Angela were standing right next to the doctor with worried faces. I looked around and figured that I was in a hospital room. I tried to get up in a sitting position but the doctor stopped me from doing so.

"You need to take rest." She offered me a small smile but I couldn't return it because I was too confused to react.

"How did I get here?" I avoided looking at Angela and Troy. They were still guilty in my eyes.

"Your friends got you here. You were unconscious when they found you. You should be more careful and must take care of yourself properly, especially in this state." I frowned at the doctor as she said it.

"What are you talking about?" I sounded a little rough. "How long was I out?" The doctor sighed and looked at me with pity in her eyes. It annoyed me very much.

"You were out for a day because of your weakness. And you are also….. Pregnant."

I stared at the doctor as if she has gone crazy. Troy and Angela both looked highly uncomfortable suddenly. They looked everywhere and anywhere in the room except at me. The reality slapped me hard, right across my face. What did I do so wrong that this was happening to me? I regretted being born at that moment. It seemed life preferred to be mean with me. First I was deprived from parental love, I never knew them, never had any family of my own. Then the people I thought as loyal friends betrayed me horribly. I fell in love for the first time but that also turned out to be a cruel sick joke. As if these weren't enough, I got myself pregnant with an unwanted child at the age of sixteen.

"I will come to check up on you after two hours." The doctor announced and left the room quietly. I was still in shock and didn't care about being alone with Troy and Angela. They wanted to talk to me but hesitated to do so. What happened with me when I jumped off the cliff was still a mystery to me. I had a feeling that this new life inside me stopped me from killing myself but that sounded nonsense even to me. I mean it wasn't even a life yet. I needed answers to my questions or it would drive me crazy.

"Why are you here?" I asked my once best friend. Troy sighed out heavily with sadness but avoided looking at me.

"Rayna, we know we have done wrong and you have every reason to hate us. But please just give us one chance to explain ourselves." I was angry with them, yes but I also wanted to know what they had to say.

"You should start talking then." My voice was very unfriendly and showed my hatred for them clearly.

"Rayna, we confess that we knew about the bet, we heard people talking about it but… we thought them fake rumors spread by some jealous girls. We couldn't trust our ears more than our eyes…and you were in love and we didn't want to see you sad so…" I could see guiltiness in Troy's eyes while he struggled with words.

"We really thought he changed, Rayna. We thought he was in love with you too." I felt a bitter taste in my mouth as _his_ face appeared in my mind. Angela pleaded with her eyes for forgiveness. I sighed out heavily. My eyes shining with tears now.

"You could've at least warned me. I could have saved myself from all this. What I am gonna do now?" Suddenly I felt so sad and mentally so weak, that I burst out in sobs in front of them. Angela came over to me and wrapped her arms around to comfort me. I didn't dislike it and actually appreciated the comfort.

"We promise, we will never leave your side….. We will take care of you and….. everything will be back to normal again. Please just don't give up on us." Angela kept saying soothing words to me and it helped me to some level. My sobbing eased off a little eventually. Then something came into my mind suddenly.

"How did you find me?" I asked looking at Troy who still looked sad. I knew he was blaming himself for everything. I blamed them myself but now that I think properly, they could have abandoned me right away and never see my face again. But they looked out for me. They were worried for me. They were still willing to help me out in such time of need. I couldn't bring myself to hate them anymore but I was still holding a grudge against the sons of Ipswich, especially _him_.

Troy cleared his throat looking nervous. It seemed he didn't want to answer the question I asked him but my intense gaze made him speak. "We are not the one who found you, Rayna." I frowned at him in confusion. Who else would look for me if not them?

"Caleb found you and brought you here." He said. It really shocked me. Caleb was the last person I thought would look for me. Why anyone from the Sons of Ipswich would look for me? Didn't they just destroy my whole life just for fun? Before I could speak any further the door of the room opened and Caleb stood there staring right at me. Jessica and Michael were right behind him. Caleb looked away when my eyes met with his, probably ashamed. I felt myself shaking with rage at the sight of him.

"Troy, tell him to leave." I also turned my eyes away from Caleb. I knew I was being a bitch but can you really blame me? I noticed they exchanged looks with each other. Then Troy left with Angela, leaving me and Caleb alone. He slowly walked towards me but his eyes were on the floor.

"Rayna, I didn't come here to ask for your forgiveness, I don't deserve it-" I cut him off rudely, I was too enraged to listen to him.

"You are right, you don't deserve it. So, why the hell are you here?" He suddenly looked straight at me not with guilt or shame but with accusation.

"You jumped off the cliff." It wasn't a question but a statement. I scoffed at him darkly though it surprised me that he knew I jumped.

"Do you think I would be sitting here distastefully listening to you if I had jumped off a cliff? Besides why do you even care what I did or didn't do? It's none of your business." Caleb didn't need to know the weird stuff that happened with me. I didn't want anything to do with them, not anymore, not ever.

"It is my business, Rayna. And you are coming with me right now. I have things to explain to you." Caleb said as firmly as possible. The nerve of him. How could he order me like that? I wasn't going to give in easily.

"Forget it Caleb. I am not going anywhere with you." I glared at him but it didn't work. He leaned near my ear but kept a decent distance.

"If you want to know what saved you from inevitable death then you have to come with me." He said but how did he know something happened with me? I knew what I have to do. I needed to know what happened. Though I didn't like going with Caleb to an unknown place but I had no other choice. Caleb drove us to an old cemetery house. It looked haunted to say the least. I felt chills running down my spine. Caleb must have noticed my fear.

"Don't be scared, it's safe." He assured. Cold wind blew and made me shiver. Caleb took off his jacket and wrapped it around me. I hesitated at first but the cold was too much for me.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked with shaky voice. Caleb led the way without looking back at me.

"You will know soon." Once inside I saw an old looking man. He didn't look so friendly and glared right at Caleb and me. Caleb seemed unfazed though.

"Where is he?" He asked the old man. I had no idea who Caleb was talking about.

"Upstairs. Is this the girl?" The old looking man obviously asked about me.

"Yes Gorman." Caleb replied to this Gorman guy. Were they related? I shrugged off the thought right away. It was none of my business.

"He is waiting for her. Take her upstairs." Gorman said. It was creepy but I followed Caleb anyway. Upstairs, I saw a big armchair in front of the fire place. Someone was sitting there. Caleb motioned for me to go forward. I did as I was told and walked towards the armchair. Once I was close enough I saw a very old and sick looking man sitting there. He looked dead except the eyes. He got Caleb's eyes or should I say Caleb got his eyes.

"He is my father." Caleb spoke the obvious. I stared at him dumbstruck. We all knew that Caleb's dad died a long time ago. If his father was still alive then everything they tell people is a lie. I wondered when was the last time the sons of Ipswich said something truth.

"So you guys lied about your father's death too. But why are you telling me this?" I asked. Nothing was making sense to me. None of it.

"You have read the history of our family, right." Caleb said with certainty in his voice. I merely nodded to confirm. There was a book in the school library on the history of Ipswich. It mentioned the five families who settled the Ipswich colony. The sons of Ipswich were supposed descendants of those five families. One family was lost though. The line of that family ended somehow and only four remained. Rumors has it that the families could do witch crafts and has magical powers. The five families formed a covenant of silence to protect themselves from the witch hunt. I recalled what I read in the book but it didn't make any sense to me.

"The rumors are true Rayna. And we really have magical powers, all four of us." Caleb said. If I was in a good mood I would have burst out laughing but I got angrier instead.

"Caleb, look… I am going through enough stress. Please stop this nonsense and drive me back to the hospital."

I started to walk towards the door but before I could reach it, the door closed itself. I thought it was the wind but when I tried to open it I found it locked. I turned around to face Caleb. He was also looking at me but his eyes were not the same anymore. It wasn't the usual dark brown ones, I was familiar with but it turned pitch black with no white in it. He looked like a freaking evil monster from some horror movie. I couldn't find my voice for some time. Caleb started to approach me. He was saying something but I was too scared to listen to anything. I banged on the door and cried for help. Then suddenly I felt like calming down. Why the hell was I calming down? Caleb just turned into something nonhuman and he was probably going to kill me. Then as if some magic worked on me I drifted into a peaceful sleep, wishing not to wake up ever.


	15. A Confrontation

 

 

**Chapter 14: A Confrontation**

 

I really thought that when I would wake up I'd find myself in a dark dungeon cell, locked up with several skeletons all around me. The sons of Ipswich weren't humans and at this point I believed that anything was possible. Though, I was proved wrong when I opened my eyes. I found myself in a warm, comfortable and well furnished bedroom. I couldn't help but feel a little panicked though as the place was a stranger to me after all. I looked around and wondered where I was? I quickly got off the bed and ran towards the closed door. I turned the knob but it was locked. I didn't want to admit it out loud but I was shaking with fear.

The kind of power Caleb showed me, and probably used on me, who knew what else they were capable of doing. Suddenly I heard someone on the other side of the door, talking. Someone must have realized that I woke up already. I slowly started to back away from the door on my instinct. The door opened at once and revealed Caleb there; standing right in front of me and wearing his Spenser uniform. This must be his house then, the Danvers mansion. Never in my life had I thought I would be scared of Caleb above all people. But truth to be told, I was and not just scared but terrified.

"I am not gonna hurt you Rayna." Caleb tried to assure me and took a step forward. But watching my frightened face he remained where he was standing. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed out heavily. Caleb looked frustrated but there was also a helpless look in his eyes. Neither of us spoke up and the silence felt really awkward to both of us. Finally I could gather up some courage and asked him with hesitancy.

"What do you want from me?" I realized then how dry my throat was. The words came out in whispers, barely audible. Caleb stared at me for a moment.

"I just want you to listen to what I have to say. That's all. But first let's get you something to eat." Eating was the last thing on my mind and I was going to say no to him instantly but my stomach betrayed me and grumbled loudly. Was that a smirk that appeared on Caleb's face for a moment? Not so happy with the idea, but I followed Caleb to the kitchen. The food was already waiting for me on the kitchen table. I settled down in a chair and Caleb stood leaning against the wall. I wanted to eat like a hungry dog but controlled myself and took small bites out of the food slowly. Caleb was looking at me intensely and it felt really unnerving. I wanted to make him look away from me. I thought that starting a conversation would be better to dissolve the tension between us.

"You saved me when I jumped off the cliff, didn't you?" I asked him but still feeling nervous to talk to him. But I really wanted to know the answer to my question. Caleb nodded his head lightly, never taking his eyes off of me though. As if I would vanish in the air if he looked away accidentally.

"Where is Mrs. Danvers?" I realized then that I didn't see her around.

"She is out of town for a week, family business." Caleb replied shortly. I shifted uneasily in my chair. Caleb noticed how much I wanted to be away from under his gaze. He took mercy upon me I guess because he slowly looked away from me.

"I am gonna go change. Will you be alright?" I nodded eagerly. He took a deep breath and went upstairs to his bedroom. By the time he returned I was done eating. We walked into the living room and sat across, facing each other.

"Rayna, we need to talk. You need to know about us properly and about our powers as well." I knew he was right. I needed to know about them and their powers. But the real question was, would I like what I am about to hear from him? I waited in anticipation for Caleb to start talking. He started explaining to me about their powers, giving me enough time to understand him properly. No one knows exactly where the power came from but they inherited this power from there descendants when they turned thirteen. The five families had this power in their blood for a long time. The power the sons of Ipswich could use currently was just a trailer of the power they would receive after ascending. Every one of them would ascend at the age of eighteen, in their school graduation year.

"So, you guys are like wizards and have magical powers. It sounds like Harry Potter to me." It was the only thing that came in my mind after listening to Caleb. He smiled a little at that.

"Yeah kind of like that. But there is more to it." Caleb then told me about the aging problem and how his father turned the way he was. The power was addictive. It seduces the user, driving him into further danger and causes early death as well. I could only imagine how horrible it might be for them. I kind of felt pity for them actually even after what they did to me.

"Isn't there anyway to lift off this curse?" I asked Caleb curiously, concern dripping out of my voice. He shook his head while sighing out lightly though laced with hopelessness.

"As much as we know, there is nothing to stop the aging."

We both sat there in silence but it wasn't awkward like before. Suddenly I heard a car pulling up in front of the main door. Not long after that Pogue entered the room. Followed by Pogue came in Tyler and lastly _him._ I looked back at Caleb with disbelieve in my eyes. I was also openly gaping at him. I couldn't believe he called everyone here, especially _him_. Caleb however looked away from me. It only increased my anger more. I thought Caleb above all people understood my feelings but I was wrong. He knew I didn't want to see _his_ face, not now, not ever but still he let _him_ come here. I felt _his_ gaze on me. It shook me to my core with anger and hatred. I shot up from my seat, receiving questioning looks from everyone in the room. I looked pointedly at Caleb.

"Thanks for your hospitality Caleb but I am leaving now." My voice was stern and revealed my anger clearly. Caleb stood up as well, ready to stop me from leaving. He looked past me at someone for a moment then looked back at me.

"You can't leave Rayna. You have no place to go." He stated the obvious but his ordering voice didn't work on me this time.

"Look, I appreciate that, you have trusted me enough to share your secrets with me but my life is not your concern." I turned to walk out of the door but Pogue blocked my way.

"We told you this for a reason Rayna. There is a huge possibility that the child you are carrying right now might inherit the power as well." I stopped breathing for a moment. I didn't want them to know about the pregnancy, especially _him_. My eyes traveled to _him_ before I could stop them. He looked shocked and not to mention extremely pissed when he finally realized what Pogue just said. The next thing I knew _he_ was yelling at Caleb.

"Why the hell you didn't tell me about this?" He looked at Tyler and asked- "Did you know too?" Tyler looked away from him, guilt swimming in his eyes.

"FUCK!" He said loudly.

"You wouldn't have come here if you knew" said Caleb with an edge in his voice; he was losing his temper as well.

"Of course I wouldn't. I don't want to deal with any of this shit." _He_ ran a hand through his hair making a mess of it.

"You're the father of this baby Reid, you don't have any choice." It was Pogue this time. Suddenly _his_ eyes turned towards me. It boiled my blood to see him glaring at me. How dare he? It was entirely his fault that we were in that situation.

"You, it's all your fault." _He_ said sneering at me poisonously. He stood very close and looked dangerous at the moment.

"Reid." Came Caleb's warned voice but it didn't stop the bastard. The closeness between us disgusted me but I stood firmly on my ground. I never wanted to face him again but fate obviously had something different planned for me.

"What is this, huh? A way to take your revenge on me, is that it?" It was really unbelievable, the way he could look at me straight in the eyes and not feel a bit ashamed. Specially after what he did to me. And moreover he was accusing me of taking revenge on him by getting myself pregnant. I couldn't believe that he could think so low and once I actually fell in love with this man. I hated myself for being so blind and not recognizing him for what he really was. I wish I had while I still had the time to save myself.

Once I thought about it, I started to question myself, why Reid Garwin would love me? He was rich, good looking; popular, hot looking girls threw themselves at his feet. On the other hand, I was an orphan, naive girl, trying to fit in with the new environment. I was right back then; at the very beginning that he could never love someone like me for a single moment.

"You won't get anything out of it. Take my advice, get an abortion and forget about everything that has happened." I was simply insulting myself just by standing there in his presence. It was foolishness to expect anything good from him. But it didn't fail to rip apart my already torn heart into more pieces. I could barely stop the tears that threatened to fall from my eyes. Suddenly he chuckled darkly and turned his face to look at Caleb while still standing in front of me.

"It's fucking nonsense, you guys actually believed her that she is pregnant with my child." Then he looked back at me with a smirk.

"She must have planned this right after finding out about the bet." I had no idea where he was going with this.

"I doubt she is pregnant. And even if she is, there are other men who can get her pregnant too, someone like Troy." Before I knew it, my hand collided with his right cheek. His face turned to the side due to the force and turned bright red instantly. I should have done that a long time ago. But a slap was nothing against what he did to me. Looking at everyone else for one last time, I walked out of the house. Not having the slightest idea about where I would go or what I would do? Life was extremely uncertain for me but for some reason I decided to live it anyway.


	16. After A Break

 

 

**Chapter 15: After A Break**

 

**_Two Years Later:_ **

It had been two years since I left Ipswich. Lot of things happened in my life during these past two years. At the moment though, I was in a car with Troy. He was driving me to Spenser Academy. Countless memories I got of that place. I never thought I would visit the Ipswich famous Spenser Academy again in my life but, then again- _it never goes according to how I plan things for my life, does it?_ Anyway, it was my first day back at school as a senior this time, in the middle of the semester, absolutely awkward right? But I had a very good purpose for coming back in that hell hole.

When I came here for the first time, I didn't know what to expect. Everything was new to me. But this time I knew all the ins and outs of the school, its students and what to expect from them. And by any chance they still remembered me then I was sure to go through another torturous session of hell. But the reason I had, worth everything, every trouble. And the reason was my one year old daughter Rosalie. Unfortunately she too couldn't get a surname like me. I didn't want to give her the name of a man who didn't even know she existed. And even if he did, I was sure he wouldn't have wanted anything to do with her. Memories started to cloud up my mind from the day I walked out of the lives of the Sons of Ipswich.

**Flashback**

_I was completely lost and tired of the whole situation. I couldn't believe he said that to me. It was completely stupid of me to actually hope that he would apologize to me after hearing about the child and he would try to make amends to me. But no, instead of that he tried to imply that I was a whore and completely denied the child as his own. I was walking down the road, not knowing or caring where my feet were taking me to. Suddenly a car stopped right beside me. Any other time it would have caught my attention. But I totally ignored it at the moment and kept walking. A few seconds later I felt someone grabbing my shoulder and gave it a strong shake. It brought back some senses into me and I saw Troy standing in front of me. Angela, Jessica and Michael stood close by him. They all looked horribly worried. The reactions I got from them the next second totally caught me off guard. They practically jumped up on me and engulfed me in a bear hug. Not sure of what I should do I stood there motionless._

" _Where the hell have you been?" Jessica yelled at me not out of anger but out of concern and worry._

" _We were worried sick about you." Angela looked like she was about to cry._

" _Yeah, hell we were. We have been looking for you for hours now" said Michael. I couldn't help but look at them with amusement in my eyes. Did these people really care about me? If someone had asked me the question a few days ago I would have said "Without any doubt" but after the incident I couldn't trust anyone anymore. But as I stood there in front of them, looking at them in their eyes, a small voice in the back of my mind told me that, they really did care about me._

" _I am sorry. I didn't realize that you were looking for me." I said quietly, feeling guilty that I left with Caleb without telling any of them. Angela looked at me with pity. I didn't mind those pity looks this time. I was thankful that it was pity that was in their eyes for me rather than disgust or hate._

" _Come on girls we need to leave" said Troy getting everyone's attention._

" _Don't you dare ever run away like that again." Jessica scolded me as we got in the car. It brought a smile on my lips. I doubted I would ever smile again. Michael drove us to Boston. I was a mute the whole trip. But when I saw Michael pulling over in front of Troy's grandmother's house I couldn't stay quiet anymore._

" _Troy, why did you bring us here?" I asked guessing his intentions._

" _I know you are not going back to Spenser anymore. But you need a place to stay, don't you?" I got tensed up hearing that._

_"Troy, I can't be a burden on your Grandmother-" Troy shook his head as I began to say._

" _Look Rayna, Granny is getting old and it's really bad for her to stay all alone. If you stay here, she would have some company too. And I've already talked to Granny. She is willing to take you in. You remember how happy she was when you visited her last time, don't you? So being a burden is out of question." Troy always knew what to say at certain moments. And beggars can't be choosers. So I gave in without a second thought. We got out of the car and Troy led us to the front door. He knocked several times. The door opened and an old looking lady stepped out. As she saw her grandson she smiled up brightly and engulfed him in a tight hug._

" _Oh, I was wondering when I will see your face again." She rubbed his back affectionately._

" _Grandma I brought you some guests." Troy stepped aside to let her see us._

" _Grandma, that's Jessica and Michael and you have already met Angela and Rayna." I felt that his grandmother was already aware of my situation as she gave me a knowing look. It was really embarrassing for me._

" _Come on in dears. I am making some fine muffins." They already got my stuffs from the dorm. It really surprised me to see how much they cared about me. Troy and Michael put them in the room I was given to stay in. Everyone planned to stay for the night. I was really glad for that. I didn't want to be alone. After the dinner everyone was just sitting at the table in silence. I wanted to talk to them so I took a deep breathe._

" _Guys, I have something to say." Everyone turned their attention to me._

" _I want to thank you. Thank you very much for doing all this for me. You have no idea how much this means to me. And I am so sorry that I doubted you-" before I could say any further I was cut off by Jessica._

" _No Rayna, we are sorry. You are in this situation because of us. What we are doing is nothing compared to the damaged we have done to you. We just hope that you would be able to forgive us."_

" _There is nothing to forgive. My fate got me in this situation. And I am the only one responsible for me. Please just don't feel guilty over me. You have always wanted well for me." I meant every word at the moment. The air around us got heavy. Troy got up from the seat suddenly._

" _I am gonna go out for a walk." He announced. Michael stood up too._

_"Me too man." And the two boys left the house. We helped granny with the dishes. Then she went to bed leaving us girls alone. I told them everything except the magic part about the sons of Ipswich. It took great effort for me not to break down in front of them._

" _What a bastard!" said Jessica with a sour expression and venom in her voice._

" _I can't believe what others did" said Angela obviously talking about Tyler, Caleb and Pogue._

" _What happened after I left the campus?" I asked them kind of curiously._

_"Troy and Michael went to that jerk to confront him but apparently they couldn't do anything to him and instead got more pissed off" said Jessica glaring in the space._

" _They should stay away from him. You all should. They are not good to hang around." I warned them knowing how dangerous they were exactly._

" _Caleb however was decent enough to look for you and get you to the hospital" said Angela but Jessica scoffed darkly._

_"That doesn't make him any better. They are all pricks."_

" _I didn't mean for you to be mean to them." I really didn't want them to get in a nasty fight with the sons of Ipswich, knowing who would really get hurt in the fight._

" _They deserve that" said Jessica stubbornly. Like any other teenager I should have turned into a bitchy person too but I couldn't do that. Not when a life was depending on me too._

" _Even Melody broke up with Tyler" said Angela. It totally shocked me. I had no idea._

" _What? Why?" I asked. Things were fine between them. What could've happened?_

" _She said and I quote 'I don't want to be next Rayna." Angela repeated what Melody must have said to Tyler. I was feeling a little guilty now even though everything was his (Reid) fault. All of it._

" _Tyler looked really pissed off at him and so were the others. But it seemed that it didn't matter to him." I was thankful to Angela that she didn't mention his name or I would have flinched in front of them. We spent the whole night talking like this. In the morning everyone got ready to leave for Ipswich. Jessica, Angela, and Michael each gave me a warm hug before getting into the car. Troy was still lingering back. He came over to me lastly and gave me a tight hug. I felt him patting my hair affectionately._

" _I will try to visit soon. But if you ever need anything, just give me a call. Don't forget that someone is out there who really cares for you." I didn't hold back the tears this time and sobbed in his comfortable embrace. He didn't know, how much I was going to miss him and every one else as well. Troy got in the car and Michael drove away. Granny and I waved at them until they left our sights._

" _Come on dear, lets get inside." Granny wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led me inside. I sighed heavily thinking about what would happen next. Granny must have noticed it too._

" _Honey, I know it's not the best time to talk with you about certain things but what did you decide to do with the baby?" I sighed again. I really wanted to forget that I was indeed pregnant or something was growing inside me._

" _I don't know Granny. I don't know what to do?" I answered honestly._

" _Do you want to keep the child?" Her voice was void of any emotion._

" _I can't kill a life." I replied quickly. Once I actually thought about getting an abortion but the mere thought shook my being. I couldn't kill a life._

" _You do know that it would be very hard for you to raise a child. I am not saying that you shouldn't give birth to the baby. I don't prefer killing a life either. But you must be prepared. Otherwise both of you will suffer for life time. Do you understand what I am trying to say?" I nodded to her. I knew what she was saying was true. If I give birth to a life without any preparation it would cause nothing else but sufferings for the both of us. I didn't know why I was feeling like I was ready to have this child and be a mother. Maybe it was some inner instinct. I just knew what I would do._

" _I am going to have this baby." I said with a strong voice. It surprised me that how confident I sounded. Way more confident than I actually felt. Granny smiled up at me._

_"I am happy that you made this decision."_

**End Of flashback**

I snapped out of my thoughts when the huge Victorian palace like campus of Spenser Academy came into my view. I got tensed up without even realizing it. No one could guess what I was going through at the moment. Troy noticed the changes in my face. He gave my hand a courageous squeeze.

"Don't worry Rayna, everything will be alright. We will be with you all the time." I gave him a small smile for his attempt to comfort me. But the tension only increased as we got out of the car and people started to look at us. We made our ways to the Provost office. Provost Higgins was still in charge. Troy waited for me outside while I went inside the room to talk with the Provost.

"I am here to see provost Higgins." I said to the middle aged lady who was probably the secretary of the provost. She informed the provost of my arrival and I was permitted to go inside the office.

"May I come in, sir." I asked holding the door wide enough for the provost to see me. He smiled up at me when he saw me. He already knew I was coming.

"Please come in Rayna. How are you?" I was feeling very uncomfortable under his gaze.

"I am fine sir." I just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

"Please take a seat." I groaned inwardly but I needed to get through this. There was no other option. Provost Higgins knew everything about me. It was a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. I took off the whole sophomore year and did part time jobs in order to gather enough money for obvious reasons. I knew I wouldn't be staying with granny forever. Eventually I had to move out from there. I was also able to make up for the lost school year. I used the money to enroll myself back to Spenser and got myself a place to stay because this time I couldn't use the dorms obviously.

"It's good to have you back Rayna, how is Rosalie?" He knew about my daughter too. But it was still a secret though. Only Granny, Troy, Angela, Jessica and Michael knew about Rosalie. And we had to tell provost when we contacted him about getting back to Spenser.

"She is doing fine Sir, very naughty I must say." I couldn't help but smile.

"So you were studying up in Boston public for your junior year, right?" I nodded my head. He already knew that then why was he asking me about it again?

"I am glad you have decided to come back here. It's best for you if you graduate from an academy like Spenser." I wanted to snort at him. A graduation certificate was the least important thing in my life. But I nodded to him politely anyway and gave him a grateful smile.

"You would be joining your classes from today…. Here is your class routine." He handed me some other papers as well.

"I hope there won't be any problem but you know you can always come to me if you need anything." I just hoped that I wouldn't need his help any more during my stay here.

"Thank you Sir, I appreciate that very much." I stood up from the chair.

"Have a good day, Sir." With that I left the room fast. I came out and found Troy where I left him. He was talking to Angela though. Both of them were waiting up for me. He took my routine to check.

"Hmmmm first class Biology. I am in it too." He said and started to lead the way. Angela had a different class so she parted ways from us after walking with us for a while. I noticed the students were staring at me. I never felt like that before but now I was feeling as if I was a lot older than them. Maybe it was because I was a mother now. I shrugged off that feeling quickly and prepared myself for a long suffering day.


	17. The Precious One

 

 

**Chapter 16: The Precious One**

 

Troy and I entered the classroom and took our seats right next to each other at the back of the class. I noticed people glancing at our way and then whispering things with their friends. The teacher entered the classroom after the warning bell went off. Everyone settled down in their seats. I had to get up and walk to the teacher to hand over some paperwork. The teacher Mr. Grey already knew me and didn't bother to introduce me to the class either. I was personally grateful for that. When I was getting back to my seat, I heard some people talking and it involved me of course.

"The nerve of her. How dare she come back?" It came from a familiar face Victoria. The way she glared at me, I would have died on the spot if looks could literary kill. I was pretty sure that she got dumped by _him_ after one or two weeks top. Shaking my head to myself lightly, I kept moving towards my seat when I heard Kira.

"I can't believe it. Doesn't she have any shame?" I knew Kira was a mean bitch. But I didn't know why it bothered her that I came back. We never got into any trouble before. Maybe she just needed some topic to gossip about. The most irritating thing was the nasty looks I received from the male population. The pregnancy didn't do any damage to my figure or looks. I looked pretty much the same, long black hair, thin body, black big eyes and smooth pinkish fair skin tone. In Angela's opinion I looked more beautiful. She had said once-

"Your face glow in the light." Maybe it was the happiness of being a mother that showed off on my face as well. But I absolutely hated it when I got unwanted attention.

The class started with a boring topic. Every time Troy would hear something about me, he would glare at the person openly and directly. I told him to stop doing that. It was drawing too much attention but he continued anyway. I couldn't really blame him though. Some people were saying such bad things about me that I really wanted to run out of the classroom. Soon I lost my concentration on the lecture and my mind started to wonder about my precious daughter. My mind traveled back to the day she was born.

**Flashback**

_I was nine months pregnant with a huge tummy. I was eating dark chocolate ice cream while watching baby's day out. I found out I was going to have a baby girl. The only thing I could think of was how she would look. What would be her eye color, her hair color, and her skin tone? I got dozens of posters of cute babies and hanged them on the wall all around my room. A week ago Angela and Jessica helped me buying baby stuffs like dresses, toys, dolls and other necessary things. Once we had a meeting about naming the baby. Jessica and Michael got into a huge argument regarding that topic. Michael wanted to name her after a super model and Jessica wanted to name her after a Greek goddess. However the argument ended after I announced the name I had in my mind._

" _How about Rose? I like roses." I said looking at them for opinions._

_"Yeah Rose is good. A strong name for a female" said Angela._

" _I like the sound of Rosalie though" said Troy. "Rose is too strong." I thought about it for a moment._

" _Done then….. Rosalie it is." I whispered to the growing stomach; patting it affectionately. Troy was really happy that I chose his name._

_Anyway at one point of the movie came a very comical scene and it made me laugh out loud. Suddenly I felt Rosalie moving inside my stomach. It happened many times before but this time it really hurt. Soon the water broke and caused labor pain. I started to scream. Granny came running to me and realized what happened. She called the ambulance quickly and then called Troy as well. The delivery date was one week later so I was completely unprepared. The pain was unthinkable. I thought I wouldn't make it when they took me to the operation theater. Never in my life had I screamed so much. The doctors and nurses surrounded me, telling me to take deep breaths. I fainted after fifteen minutes of suffering but thankfully the baby was already out._

_I came back to my senses after four long hours. I found myself in the hospital room lying on the bed and beside me was a baby cot. I actually felt nervous to look at her. But she was moving inside her little bed. Taking a deep breath I finally looked over at her. The sight in front of me strike me like a thunder. A little female version of Reid Garwin was lying there restlessly. The same blond hair, maybe a little golden shade, the same intense blue eyes. She noticed me looking at her and when she looked back at me, it felt like he was looking at me. Now most babies would smile when they see their mother for the first time. But the response that came from Rosalie couldn't be described as a smile. It looked like a smirk. And curse my fate she smirked just like him too. Truth to be told, I kind of felt betrayed. I thought my daughter would look like me, maybe not exactly but partially. However, Rosalie had no trace of me in her. For a moment I really got scared, thinking that her looks would hunt me for the rest of my life._

_But then she stretched her little arms at me and I completely forgot whatever I was thinking and took her in my arms instantly. She grinned widely in my arms. It felt like I got all the happiness that existed in this world. But our little mother-daughter moment didn't last longer as Troy came in followed by the others. They brought balloons and flowers to decorate the room. They surrounded us. Everyone looked so happy. Rosalie enjoyed the attention very much. I could only imagine what she would do when all grown up. Troy took her in his arms first. She cooed with joy in his arms. Then Angela and Jessica held her for sometime. The funniest thing happened when Michael took her in his arms._

" _She would turn into a blonde bimbo when grown up." He stated and I scowled at him playfully._

" _No she won't. She is my daughter. She would be sweet and adorable." But he was still making faces at her, sticking his tongue out at her. Just right then she pissed in his arms and soaked him with pee._

" _Serves you right" exclaimed Jessica and we all burst out laughing except Michael. The look on his face was hilarious. Rosalie's action actually looked intentional. But that was impossible for merely a few hours old baby to do, wasn't it? She couldn't possibly understand what was happening around her, could she?_

**End Of Flashback**

I was struggling to settle down but somehow it had all worked out nicely. But then after Rosalie's first birthday I noticed her using one day. It totally freaked me out. I remembered clearly, Caleb said that they developed their powers at the age of thirteen. Then how come Rosalie could use now?

When I found out that I was pregnant with a girl, I stopped worrying about the powers because in Caleb's explanation; only the first born male could inherit the powers. After finding out about Rosalie's powers, I just knew that I had to return to Ipswich and talk to the sons, no matter how much I disliked it. I was scared to death thinking about the power's addiction. I couldn't stop Rosalie from using because she was only a year old after all. Talking to her about it was impossible. Moreover, she would use whenever she wanted to. It was very risky and threatened to expose the secret as well.

Rosalie would sometimes use in front of Troy and the others. Every time I had to make up some silly stories to cover that up but Troy would always look at me suspiciously. Things were getting worse and I had no choice but to enroll myself back to Spenser. The sooner I could talk to the Sons of Ipswich, the better. But the problem was, would they help me out? I really hoped so.


	18. Catching Up

 

 

**Chapter 17: Catching Up**

 

It was almost time for lunch break but I hadn't seen any of the sons of Ipswich yet. I slowly made my way to the cafeteria. All alone for the first time since I walked inside Spenser campus. Troy had work to do with the new literature professor along with Angela, so he couldn't accompany me for a while. He didn't want to leave me alone but I insisted him that I would be fine for a while on my own. Though I wasn't very sure about that in my mind. Just as I entered the cafeteria, Melody came running up to me. I didn't know she would be so happy to see me again. We shared a long warm hug and settled in an empty table.

"I can't believe you are actually here Rayna. It's so good to see you again." I felt guilty for not staying in touch with her. Clearly she missed me a lot.

"I've missed you too you know." I said realizing that it's really been a long time since I last saw her.

"Where have you been staying for all this time?" She asked me curiously and I decided that it would be alright to tell her. So I told her the things that happened in my life after I left Spenser, including about Rosalie.

"Wow, you have to let me meet her." I nodded my head lightly.

"Sure. Whenever you want." I said.

"How about today, after school?" She looked hopefully at me and I couldn't help but smile at her eagerness.

"I left her at the local baby care center. You can come with me to pick her up."

Rosalie was kind of used to of staying without me for a long time but I was still worried about her. Since she started to use, it became dangerous for her to be in a public place without me. But I had no choice but to leave her there and I certainly felt terrible for doing that.

Suddenly Melody stiffed a little bit. She was looking at the doorway with wide eyes as if seeing a ghost or something like that. I followed her gaze, feeling confused meanwhile but my confusion cleared right away when I saw what Melody was looking at or rather who. I found 'them' gracefully entering the cafeteria through the door. Three of the sons of Ipswich entered the cafeteria with two girls along with them. They looked more handsome than before. No wonder why the girls suddenly got busy, fixing up their make ups and hair. I noticed a familiar face with the sons, Sarah Wenham. She was a junior in Boston public. I talked to her a couple of times for school stuffs. Melody noticed me looking at her with knowing eyes and got curious.

"Do you know Sarah?" She asked and I nodded to her.

"I went to school with her in Boston."

"She is Caleb's girlfriend now." Melody informed me hesitatingly. I didn't know why but it didn't surprise me a bit. Sarah was a very pretty looking girl. It wasn't a shocking news that the Sons of Ipswich noticed her immediately. I saw Kate holding hands with Pogue, nothing unusual about that. However, Tyler seemed to be walking alone behind the two couples.

"Tyler is still single." It got out of my mouth before I could stop myself. Melody looked sad for a moment but she covered that up quickly. I felt guilty for bringing up Tyler in front of her. It must have been very hard for her to break up with him when she loved him so much and he also loved her as much.

"I am sorry Melody." I apologized with deep compassion though it wouldn't help her a bit. Melody sighed out heavily and looked straight into my eyes.

"It wasn't your fault Rayna. It was my decision to break up with him. After you left, Aaron spread the photos that he got of you in the whole school. I asked Tyler to stop him but it was already too late and he couldn't do anything. But I still got mad at him and broke up our relation." Now I realized why everyone was staring and glaring at me like that. I wish I could kill that pathetic excuse for a human being. I hated that Aaron more than ever after hearing this. I sighed heavily; controlling my own temper. Melody and I sat in complete silence for a while.

"Do you regret breaking up with him?" I asked hesitatingly even though I knew she did regret her decision but I had to hear it from her. Melody didn't give me a straight answer.

"It doesn't matter now." She said while lowering her gaze from my eyes. It only confirmed me more that she indeed still loved Tyler. I glanced over at the table where the Sons of Ipswich were currently sitting. However, this time there weren't only three of them. _He_ was there as well. His back was facing me, so I couldn't see his face. I was kind of grateful for that. But the thing that got my attention was the fact that he wasn't single like Tyler was. A girl was sitting on his lap comfortably. Another play toy of Reid Garwin, I figured. Somethings would never change, no matter what.

The girl was extremely gorgeous with light brown hair and forest green eyes. She was saying something funny to the group and everyone was laughing at that. Something strung in my heart suddenly. Melody watched me staring at them with a painful look on my face. Her own face clouded up with sadness as well. Thankfully she decided to draw my attention away from the sons of Ipswich.

"Lot of things are going on around lately." She said with an interested gleam in her eyes and eager tone of voice.

"Really! What kind of things?" I asked her back curiously, showing serious interest in what she was saying to me but my mind was still wondering about _them_ secretly.

"At the very beginning of the term, a new transferred student died at the party in Dells. Then a guy named Chase Collin who was also a new transferred student suddenly disappeared after one week of classes. He was accused of abducting Sarah. Caleb and Chase had a fight in the old Putnam barn. It caught fire during the fight and the cops believed that Chase died in the fire though no one found a dead body there. Then one week after that a girl named Bianca Stanly came to Spenser. And now she is dating Garwin. And he treats her like his life depends on her."

Melody said the last part bitterly and crunched up her face as if disgusted. Luckily she didn't notice how I almost flinched when I saw him kissing the Bianca girl passionately while caressing her face affectionately. I forced my mind to think about what Melody told me about Caleb and Chase's fight. I had a feeling that there was more to it. And if the sons of Ipswich were involved in it then it must be something involving their powers as well. After a pause Melody hesitatingly asked me-

"Rayna, don't get me wrong. I am really glad that you came back. But I couldn't help but wonder why did you decide to come back to Spenser. I thought you wouldn't want to see their faces ever again." I had to answer her but I couldn't just tell her about the secrets of the Sons of Ipswich and my daughter as well.

"I just didn't want to deny myself the opportunity of graduating from an Academy like Spenser. It would be good for my future carrier."

I had been telling this lame excuse to everyone. I felt terrible when I had to lie to Troy too. I felt guilty actually for not telling him about Rosalie. I was betraying him in a way and it certainly made me feel horrible about myself. But I did it anyway because it was for the greater good. No one should get involved with this and risk their lives for nothing.

Suddenly I felt eyes on me, someone was staring at me and I could feel it in my bones even. I looked around and found that he was looking straight at me along with the others. I quickly averted my eyes from him and never looked back in that direction again. It still hurt me deeply to look at him. It caused an unexplainable pain in my heart. But I knew that I wouldn't be able to avoid him or anyone else from the group for that matter. Whether I liked it or not, sooner or later I would have to deal with them. After all that's what I came here for.

Finally, the classes end for the day and everyone was leaving the school building. The sons of Ipswich were standing right in front of my eyes with their girlfriends but I didn't have the guts to approach them on my own. Sighing heavily in defeat, I decided to talk to the sons tomorrow instead.

Later, I was waiting up for Melody in the parking lot. She told me that she would give me a ride back home. I really needed to get a driving license and a car of my own soon. Someone came up behind me and cleared his throat to get my attention. I turned around and found Caleb standing there. He suddenly got uncomfortable when I looked at him in the eye.

"Hey, how have you been?" He asked. I really wanted to give him a sarcastic reply but decided against it.

"Great." I said lightly though not attempting to make it sound very convincing to him.

"So, you have decided to graduate from here." He must have heard it from the gossip mill of Spenser Academy. I wanted to tell Caleb everything about the reasons of my returning here at the school right then and there but his girlfriend showed up beside him at that moment and I had to stop myself from saying anything to him. I wasn't sure if I should talk about Rosalie in front of Sarah. And I was far from willing to take a chance when it involved my baby girl.

"That's the idea." I said with a cheerful voice, making the conversation between me and Caleb look normal in his girlfriend's presence. Though, Caleb gave me a suspicious look and calculated my behavior with his wise eyes but thankfully he didn't say anything out loud. However, Sarah smiled at me warmly.

"Hey, when did you come here?" She asked me with a nice smile.

"I just got transferred here today." Caleb looked confused, so Sarah started to explain to him about how we knew each other. I really wished for Sarah to leave Caleb alone for a moment so that I could talk to him about Rosalie but it seemed that the girl was glued to him somehow. I realized soon enough that I was not getting to talk to Caleb about certain things today. I would have to wait for the right time.

"Welcome back, Rayna." Caleb said with a smile which I halfheartedly returned to him. I was really feeling frustrated at the moment. I realized suddenly that it wouldn't be very easy for me to get close to the Sons of Ipswich this time. Things have changed so much since I left and the realization bothered me to no limit. Thankfully, Melody came up shortly after Caleb left and saved me from my inner turmoil. We drove out of the parking lot in her car. Hopefully tomorrow, I would be able to talk to at least one of them.


	19. A New Hero

 

 

**Chapter 18: A New Hero**

 

I have heard people saying many times that 'life isn't fair'. Who could know that more than me? The second day at school was just the same. My fellow students were still hostile towards me and the sons of Ipswich were still out of my reach. At the moment I could see all the four famous sons from my seat in the classroom. Coincidentally we got the same class in that period. However, I seemed like an invisible person to them which was both good and bad for me.

Concentrating on the lecture was kind of impossible for me. Too many thoughts were running through my mind and honestly it was giving me a nasty headache. Suddenly my cell phone started to vibrate silently in my uniform pocket. We weren't allowed to have cell phones in the class room, so I quickly turned it off. I waited for a while, making sure no one was looking at my way. I turned on the cell phone quietly under my desk and checked the caller's ID. It was from the baby care center. Something must have happened there. Rosalie must be creating a fuss over there. She was in a bad mood in the morning for some reason and didn't want me to leave her. I felt horrible for forcing her to stay there without me but I had no other choice.

Knowing that my baby needed me, I couldn't sit in the classroom anymore. I walked up to the teacher fast and made excuses about not feeling alright. Thankfully I was granted a leave from the class without much trouble. I felt many pairs of eyes staring at me while I walked out of the door in a rush. As usual I had to wait for a cab because no one else was available for a ride at that hour. I checked the time for the hundredth time in my wrist watch. I was getting more and more worried about Rosalie. Suddenly a car pulled over right in front of me. I bent down to look inside the car and see the person driving it. There was a boy about my age, sitting in the driver's seat. I didn't know him but I felt like I have seen the face somewhere before.

"Do you need a ride? I can drop you off to wherever you want to go." He stammered a little out of nervousness. Any other time I would have thought twice about getting in a car with a stranger but I was extremely worried that time. So without wasting anytime I got inside and he started driving. For a few moments we sat in absolute silence and it was really awkward, for both of us I guess.

"I am Sam by the way, in case you were wondering." It was really embarrassing. He was being really kind to me, offering me help when I needed it most. I should have introduced myself first and talk with him nicely. He must be thinking that I was a rude person. Only if he knew what I was going through.

"I am Rayna. Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it." Though my mind was occupied with worries but I couldn't help but notice how Sam was blushing like a ripe red tomato and looked a little out of breathe as well. It was rather cute actually, his nervousness I mean. But why was he nervous anyway? Should I find out about it?

"It's nothing. I'm really glad that I could help you." I noticed him more carefully, there was something about him. He looked like a person who you can trust. His innocent face was not entirely unfamiliar but I couldn't point out where exactly I have seen him before.

"Have we met before?" I couldn't help but ask him with a wondering curious voice.

"I go to Spenser too." He said with a little sad smile that clearly showed his disappointment in me that I failed to recognize him. I looked at his face with more concentration and then it clicked.

"Are you Sam Winglets?" He nodded with a genuine smile this time. How could I not recognize him? He was the shiest boy at Spenser. Girls were used to tease him a lot for that.

"I am so sorry I didn't recognize you earlier. My gosh! You have really grown up." His face turned more red. I guess he was still the shiest boy.

"You don't have to apologize to me Rayna. I mean it's understandable. You were away for a long time." I knew all about Sam. He was a different story though. Sam's parents lived in Chicago. They were super rich but they didn't care much about him. Sam kept mostly to himself. Through the freshmen and sophomore year, he never made any friends. He rarely talked to people. I spoke with him for only three or four times and that was when we sat beside each other in the classroom. After ten minutes he pulled over in front of the baby care center. It surprised me because I never told him where I wanted to go in the first place.

"You already knew?" It sounded more like a statement than a question. And it was.

"I saw you here yesterday, so I just figured out... You are here to pick up your daughter, aren't you?" Sighing to myself I nodded lightly.

"Thank you." I said looking at him in the eye. He had bright green eyes. It reminded me of the forest.

"I will wait up for you." He said before I could get out of the car.

"Sam, you don't have-" but he cut me off.

"I want to." His voice held amazing firmness in it. I knew he would wait up for me no matter what I say. Besides, I didn't have the time to argue so I nodded and rushed out of the car. Rosalie was throwing a tantrum inside. A small crowd was surrounding her. As soon as she saw me she stretched her arms out towards me. I scooped her up in my arms. She was shaking lightly and tears flooded her eyes.

"Oh baby! I am so sorry for leaving you." Rosalie made some accusing noises while pulling at my hair. It was something she did whenever she was angry with me.

"I know baby, I know mommy is very bad. Mommy always leaves you like this. I am sorry, I am so sorry." She stopped crying eventually. But making up to Rosalie wasn't an easy job to do. I had to say hundreds of soothing words to her, apologize in every two seconds, cuddle and kiss her. But that wasn't enough I had to buy her a huge chocolate bar. Not that she was gonna eat all that. But it finally stopped her crying so it was worth it. Rosalie could always manage to have her way with me. She grinned up at me and hugged me tightly. It was her way of saying that she forgave me. I realized then that, how much I missed her even though I was away from her for only two hours. I decided not to go back to school today. When I got out, I found Sam in the parking lot, sitting on the hood of his car and waiting up for me. I walked up to him with Rosalie in my arms.

"Thanks a lot for waiting up for me. This is Rosalie, my daughter." I introduced her to Sam. He caressed her cheek with his thumb.

"She is beautiful." He commented and Rosalie smiled at him. Before I knew it we were in the car again and Sam drove us out of the parking lot.

"I guess you aren't going back to school today." Sam said with certainty in his voice. I nodded to him and gave him my house address. Then suddenly I realized something.

"Sam, why are you not going to the classes today?" He glanced at me for a second.

"I wasn't feeling good in the morning." I knew he wasn't telling me the truth but I didn't say anything about that. We reached my house and I invited Sam in. At first Sam was very uncomfortable and nervous around me. He could only answer my questions and not ask anything though I could tell he wanted to. Eventually his uneasiness eased off. We started to talk about everything and anything that came to our minds. I never knew Sam could talk so much once he's comfortable with the person. He even cooked dinner for us. And must I say he was an excellent cook. Rosalie seemed to like him too. With Sam I felt like my old self for the first time in a long time. He brought up good memories. Memories that made me smile and laugh. After I put Rosalie to bed, Sam and I decided to take a walk outside. The night air was really refreshing.

"You should get back to the dorms now." I said to him. It was getting late and I didn't want him to get into any trouble.

"Thanks for spending time with me. I never thought this day would come in my life." The way Sam talked sometimes, it was clear that the boy had or still has a huge crush on me. But I chose not to acknowledge that. My life was messed up. I didn't need someone else getting into the mess. But I couldn't help but agree that Sam was different than anyone else. He had a kind heart and a good mind. Sam knew all about Reid but he still liked me. And that was something unusual for me.

"I'm the one who should thank you for spending time with me. I had a great time." As I said that Sam's eyes started shining with happiness at the compliment.

"Would you like to hang out with me tomorrow with Rosalie? It's weekend too." He looked so hopeful...I couldn't turn him down.

"Yeah okay sure, that sounds like fun." It seemed that Sam would burst out in happiness when I agreed to hang out with him again.

The next day, Sam came to pick us up but he couldn't decide on any place where we could go. So I decided to visit the town shopping mall and do some shopping. I had to buy some things for Rosalie and myself anyway. However, in the mall I found Troy and the others as well. They already knew that I was going out with Sam but they didn't know we would come over here. It was just a coincident. Angela and Jessica wanted to buy some party dresses for themselves and the boys just tagged along with them for carrying their bags.

"Rayna, would you please help us with our dresses? It's really hard to find the right one" said Jessica while looking around the mall for a nice dress boutique. Before anyone could say anything Troy spoke up-

"Don't be silly Jessica, she is here with Sam. Let her have some fun." I nodded to Troy in appreciation for the help. It would be really inappropriate if I ditched Sam here.

"Rayna, you can give Rosalie to us. We would take care of her" said Angela and I understood that they wanted me to spend some time alone with Sam. I didn't know what to do but Troy and Angela insisted, so I gave Rosalie to them. Besides we would be in the same building.

"Be good, princess." I kissed Rosalie and walked away from them with Sam. After a while they got into a conversation about which boutique to go first. They didn't even realize when Rosalie slipped out of Angela's arms and crawled away. It was like a baby's day out for Rosalie. She was going through crowds of people without being noticed. Suddenly someone's feet came in front of her and she had to stop. Rosalie looked up to see the person who barricaded her path. And at that moment, two exactly same pairs of eyes looked into each other for the first time.


	20. No Answers

 

 

**Chapter 19: No Answers**

 

**Third Person's POV**

Could it be anything else but a sick joke of fate that a father was looking down at his own daughter without knowing that they were actually related? However, Rosalie had a knowing look on her face as if she recognized him. Reid tried to get away from her at first but having no other choice he bent down and scooped Rosalie up in his arms. She usually didn't like strangers but somehow Rosalie knew that she belonged there. Only god knew how she figured that out. The other three sons of Ipswich were there too. Their girlfriends wanted to do some shopping for a party which would soon take place at the Dells. Caleb and Pogue already ascended and Reid would ascend within two weeks. Everyone was worried about his ascension for obvious reasons. He used the most among them. It was only one of the reasons though. There were obviously plenty other.

"Wow Reid, she looks just like you" said Tyler and Pogue nodded in agreement when he noticed the kid's face. Though the vast amount of similarities made Caleb a little worried but he didn't voice his thoughts to his friends. Being the most careful and responsible one in the group, Caleb always thought of the trouble first.

"Where are her parents?" asked Pogue while looking around the place for any blonde couple. On the other hand Rosalie seemed very happy and relaxed in Reid's arms. She pressed one of her tiny hands against his right cheek. It was her way of showing affection. Reid usually stayed away from kids, not that he comes across a lot of them anyway. But he was feeling a little strange while holding this particular baby. He blamed it on the approaching ascension without thinking much.

For a second Reid felt some sort of a strange connection with the smiling baby girl in his arms. He wanted to kiss her adorable puffy cheeks but that would have ruined his bad boy image in front of his friends right away. Suddenly he started to feel insecure with the baby. And that made Reid want to get rid of the baby right away. Besides, holding a kid in public was really embarrassing for him and so not his nature. What if a hot girl from Spenser saw him like that? He asked Tyler to take the baby from him but when Tyler tried to take her away, Rosalie grabbed Reid's jacket with her little fists and held onto them tightly.

"I think she likes you, Reid" said Tyler smirking which made Reid roll his eyes at him. But he didn't try to give Rosalie away again and let her stay with him. It made Rosalie smile broadly at him. Reid caressed her cheek lightly which made her squeal with joy. And it made Reid happy too but he didn't show it.

"I think we should look for her parents. They must be worried for her" said Caleb still looking at Rosalie with suspicious eyes. But before they could move from the spot, Bianca came up to them. She saw Rosalie with Reid and obviously noticed the similarities between them right away.

"Is this a relative of yours, Reid?" She asked looking a bit worried. Reid shook his head vehemently.

"Well then who is it?" Her stares weren't so friendly towards Rosalie. Especially because the baby girl was in her boyfriend's arms and not to mention looked a lot like him.

"Don't know, she came here crawling to us" replied Reid shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly, making it look like; he didn't give it a damn about the baby and was not happy a bit for holding her. Bianca thought something for a moment then smiled at Rosalie sweetly which was totally forced and fake. She pinched her soft cheek rather roughly. Rosalie didn't like that a bit and tried to get away from her.

"Oww so cute." Bianca cooed at Rosalie when all she wanted was for Reid to get rid of her.

"Tyler, could you please hold her? I need to talk to Reid for a moment." She forcefully snatched Rosalie away from Reid and shoved her in Tyler's arms then dragged Reid away from them at a little distance but not completely out of sight.

"Reid, can you please give me some money? I just saw a gorgeous dress and I really want to buy it but I ran out of my cash and my card's not working." She gave him an innocent yet seductive look which was impossible for Reid to resist. He took out his credit card from his jeans pocket and handed it to her.

"Buy all that you want love." Bianca smiled at Reid sweetly and wrapped her arms around his neck.

On the other hand Tyler was trying to gain Rosalie's attention but she was just staring at the couple with an angry look on her face. She was not happy about the way she was treated earlier.

"Why is she looking over there like that?" asked Pogue in a wondering tone of voice. Tyler shrugged his shoulders, feeling confused himself.

Bianca didn't let go of Reid right away. She leaned in and kissed Reid on his lips. It was supposed to be a small peek but Reid being Reid, he kissed her back right away. Their kiss turned into a passionate one pretty soon which wasn't very suitable for a public place. But neither of them cared about that. However, right at that moment something unimaginable happened. Bianca was thrown away from Reid with a very strong force. She crashed into a nearby wall and Reid fell on the ground on his back as well.

Everyone was dumbstruck for a moment. It happened so suddenly and so quickly that it took some time for the others to get to realize that Reid and Bianca were both lying on the floor. Reid was not hurt that much. He was slowly getting up but Bianca was lying unconscious. Reid stood up properly and looked over at her. Caleb and Pogue were already there. He got to them fast and couched down beside Bianca.

Meanwhile, Sarah and Kate were smiling and talking about stuffs when they saw Bianca lying on the floor unconscious and the boys were hovering over her. They ran over to them in a rush, getting really worried about their friend. Pogue managed some water from somewhere and sprayed it on Bianca's face but it didn't work. Reid was getting frustrated with each passing second. Caleb knew from beforehand exactly what Reid was about to do and forbade him but Reid avoided everything Caleb was saying to him and used on Bianca to bring her back to consciousness. Caleb glared at Reid for using like that and as usual Reid glared back at him. Bianca opened her eyes after a few seconds and sat up slowly while rubbing her head where she got hurt.

"Are you alright?" Reid asked with deep concern, looking extremely worried and panicked as well.

"Yes I guess. What happened?" She asked with a frown of confusion on her face. But before Reid could say anything to her, Caleb interrupted him.

"Reid, lost his control, you know he is ascending soon." Bianca nodded in understanding slowly. Yes, she knew everything about the sons of Ipswich. All their secrets. She found out about their powers when she first got to Spenser. Of course it happened accidentally but the sons of Ipswich welcomed her in their group. Besides Kate and Sarah liked her very much. Bianca swore to keep the son's reality a secret from everyone else and so far she was doing a fine job with keeping her promise. Reid frowned at Caleb for making him guilty but didn't say anything against him in front of the girls and apologized to Bianca.

"I think we should get back to the shopping and finish it quickly" said Bianca standing up slowly.

"You don't look okay. Let's get back to the dorms." Reid wanted to drive her back to the dorms but Bianca assured him that she was okay. Bianca walked away from there with the girls. When they were far away from the sons of Ipswich, Reid looked back at Pogue and Caleb with accusing eyes.

"What the hell was that? Why did you lie to her? You know I didn't do anything." He practically yelled at Caleb. Caleb rolled his eyes at Reid.

"I know you didn't do anything but none of us used too. Something is wrong. We need to find out who used on us" said Caleb looking enough frustrated and worried.

"Do you think its chase?" Pogue asked with a tensed up look on his face. They never found Chase's body in the barn. So there was a huge possibility that he maybe still alive. And Reid was going to ascend soon, they must stay careful.

However during this chaos; only Tyler remained silent because he was the only one who knew exactly what happened. The other three looked at him with questioning eyes when they realized that Tyler was rooted on the same spot and he was looking at the kid in his arms with a shocked expression. However, Rosalie had a smirk on her face which looked just like Reid's. Caleb walked up to Tyler with a frown of confusion.

"What happened to you Tyler?" But Tyler didn't answer Caleb and looked directly at Reid.

"Who is the mother?" He asked Reid straight away, looking dead serious. There were times when the baby boy could get more serious than Caleb.

"Why are you asking me that?" Reid asked the question carelessly, having no clue what the hell his best friend was talking about. Caleb and Pogue glanced at each other, finally starting to understand what Tyler meant by asking Reid this particular question.

"Because she looks just like you Reid, she even smirks like you and if you haven't noticed yet, she just used on you" said Tyler rather calmly than he should have. Caleb and Pogue got tensed up immediately and looked between Tyler and Reid. But before they could say anything else Jessica came running to them from nowhere.

"Oh my God Rosalie, you almost gave us a heart attack." She took Rosalie from Tyler without acknowledging the other sons of Ipswich.

"Hey Jessica! Whose daughter is she?" Caleb asked with a friendly tone but Jessica glared at him dangerously.

"None of your business, Danvers." She snapped rudely at him and stomped away from there. They knew what they had to do to find out the answer to their question. The four of them quietly followed her, careful as well because they didn't want to get caught.

"I think I already know who the mother is?" said Tyler more to himself than to others as they stood at a distance and watched Jessica giving Rosalie to Troy.

"Who?" Reid asked shamelessly. Tyler didn't need to say the name out loud for him and the others to understand that. They found that out themselves who he was talking about.

**Rayna's POV**

I bought a few dresses and stuffed toys for Rosalie. Sam was very supportive the whole time. I had a great time with him even though we were just shopping. When I was done with buying things, I walked back to the group. They were playing with Rosalie. Troy noticed me coming first.

"Thank god you are here." I got worried instantly knowing that something must have happened with them.

"What happened?" I asked with a tensed up voice but instead of Troy, it was Michael who answered me the question.

"Our little princess got her first wild adventure." I frowned at him with confusion.

"What adventure?" I asked curiously. They started telling me that Rosalie wondered around alone for a while and how they were looking for her all around the mall. However, I had a feeling that something else also happened that they weren't telling me, something that they were hiding from me. But I didn't voice my thoughts to them and turned my attention to my daughter.

"Come here you little trouble maker." I took Rosalie from Troy and kissed her affectionately. She wrapped her little arms around my neck. Suddenly I felt as if someone was watching me from distance. I looked around and found the sons of Ipswich staring straight at me and Rosalie. I shivered a little from inside without even realizing. Their gazes were too intense for me to handle at that moment. I turned away from them quickly.

"Sam, we should get back now." Sam nodded without thinking much about it and we got out of the mall without wasting anymore time. He drove us back to my house. When Sam pulled over the car in front of my house; instead of getting out right away, I stayed inside the car for a while. I knew Sam wanted to say something to me but he was being nervous about it as usual.

"Do you want to say something to me Sam?" I encouraged him to speak up. I wanted to know what he had to say to me first before assuming something up about his feelings for me.

"Rayna, I know we just met and you would probably think that I am moving fast…..but I have realized that you need someone more than a friend…..and I have liked you since the first time I saw you…..so if you want...I mean…. I would like to be that person. I would like to take care of you and Rosalie." I sighed out heavily to myself. Sam was sweating in nervousness and fear. He must be thinking that I would lash out at him for saying something like this and ruin our new found friendship right away.

"Sam, I can't decide anything right now. Please give me some time to think about it. Can you wait for me for a while longer?" Sam nodded with a smile. But I knew he was disappointed a little but I really needed to think first before deciding anything about it. I kissed his cheek lightly and got out of the car. Well that cheered him up a bit. He promised to come and pick me up for school tomorrow.

Later that day, it was almost eight in the evening; I was doing my due homework. Suddenly someone knocked on the door. Wondering who that might be I opened the door without thinking much about it. However, when I opened the door, I was really shocked to see the person standing in front of me. It was Gorman, who I met only once a long time ago. He got older but still got that same rough look on his face.

"May I come in?" His voice however was softer than his looks. I nodded my head and stepped aside to let him in. I was still too surprised to talk properly. Gorman stepped inside the house and looked around as if observing the things in the living room.

"Please have a seat." I could finally speak up and motioned towards the couch. Gorman nodded and took a seat there with a dead serious look on his face.

"How did you know I-" before I could complete my question, Gorman interrupted me with his question.

"You haven't said anything to them about your daughter yet, did you?" He asked sternly with heavy seriousness in his voice. I knew already what he was talking about so I just shook my head.

"I wanted to talk to them but didn't get a proper chance to do so." Gorman nodded almost mechanically as if he already knew my answer. Then he pulled out a brown colored envelope from his coat pocket and held it up in front of me to take.

"Caleb's father Mr. Danvers wanted me to give this to you." I took the packet from him. It seemed to have a letter inside it.

"What is it?" I asked Gorman curiously but he didn't reply me back. Suddenly it was getting very difficult for me to be around this man for some unknown strange reasons. Silence fell over us which was very unnerving.

"How is Mr. Danvers now?" I asked just for the sake of continuing the awkward conversation however, I had no idea about what kind of answer I would get from him.

"Mr. Danvers is no more. He willed away his powers to Caleb and died." The news really shocked me. I hadn't expected to hear something like that. I felt sorry for Caleb as well. It must have been very hard for him. After that, Gorman didn't stay any longer and left quickly before I could ask him anything else. I locked the door properly after he left and quickly tore the envelope to retrieve the letter from inside. I unfolded it hurriedly, feeling a little nervous also. God knew what was written inside the letter. I found that the letter wasn't written in a letter form but more like a paragraph. It said:

" _No one knows where it came from. No one knows about its origin. The magical powers we are carrying for centuries is very ancient. We know how to use it but we don't know the entire knowledge of this raw power. However, evolution of this magical power is not unheard of. It is rare and bizarre but possible nonetheless. When you first entered the room that day, I felt magical power radiating off of you. It was different and more seductive. Your child is destined for something great. Someday you will seek answers to questions you will never find out. You must protect your child and the power within it because in wrong hands your child's power could cause destruction beyond imagination."_

I read the letter again and again. Sighing heavily to myself I got up from the couch and walked over to Rosalie who was playing with her toys on her own. I picked her up from the floor and held her close to my chest. I would always protect Rosalie with my life. Nothing bad would ever happen to my daughter. I wouldn't let it.


	21. A New Threat

 

 

**Chapter 20: A New Threat**

 

The first class of the week. Sam and I were sitting right next to each other in the classroom. Sam was glancing at me now and then whenever the teacher wasn't looking towards us. He was really worried for me. Sam didn't know the real reason of course but he knew inwardly that something was bothering me terribly. Last night the letter shook me very hard from inside. It didn't lessen any of my problems moreover only increased it further.

"Are you okay?" Sam whispered to me, concern dripping out of his voice. I nodded my head with a small smile at him but Sam wasn't convinced a bit. And I knew that he wouldn't leave my side until he felt that I was really alright. That was one of the reasons, I felt safe with Sam. Knowing that he cared for me genuinely and that he would be there for me whenever I need him. It was quite a mental relief actually. I planned on telling Sam today after the school that I wanted to be with him and be his girlfriend. I was ready to start a new life with Sam but something wasn't feeling right though. I couldn't calm down my mind because I was getting a feeling that something bad would happen very soon.

After the end of the second class Sam and I had to go separate ways. I was walking down the corridor when suddenly a pair of hands grabbed me from behind and pulled me into an empty classroom. I couldn't scream because whoever attacked me put a hand over my mouth. I was struggling against my attacker but apparently he was a lot stronger than I was. I realized that fighting wouldn't help me, so I tried to calm down and once I stopped struggling, my capturer released me rather quickly. I quickly turned around to look at the person and found _him_ standing in front of me. _He_ was looking at me with his intense blue eyes but had an emotionless expressionless mask plastered over his face. However, that face didn't make me hesitate to glare at him dangerously.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" I asked with a bitter and venomous tone of voice. My blood was boiling inside me at the moment. How dare he touch me?

"We need to talk." Came a voice from behind me and I knew immediately that it was Caleb who spoke up. When I turned around to look at him, I found Pogue and Tyler standing there with him as well. Everyone looked serious, worried and tensed up.

"About what?" I asked nonchalantly but with an edge of annoyance in my voice. At first I was desperate to talk with them. That was the only reason I came back to Spenser in the first place. I needed their help but they avoided me intentionally. But now I knew that they couldn't help me even if they wanted to. They probably wouldn't even want to help me out if they could. So there was no point in talking with them about my problems. Therefore, I wouldn't.

"Who was that little girl with you yesterday?" Caleb asked though he knew very well who the girl was but still he wanted to confirm his suspicion. But I didn't want to discuss anything about Rosalie with him or anyone else anymore for that matter.

"That's none of your business Caleb." I said now showing my annoyance openly about their presence around me.

"But we think it is Rayna" said Pogue, speaking up for the first time and earned a glare from me right away.

"Look Rayna, we need to know about your daughter" said Caleb straight away while running a hand through his hair. I could tell that he was really frustrated and worried. I thought for a moment about it and decided to at least inform him that Rosalie had the same powers as them or maybe more developed powers.

"She can use, Caleb." I said sighing out heavily to myself and squeezed my eyes shut for a moment. When no one responded, I began to walk towards the closed door only to find my way blocked by Reid. I looked up and we stared at each other for a moment without blinking. My heart was beating like crazy in my chest suddenly. Maybe because it was the first time we came face to face with each other since I returned to Ipswich.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked me with a very low voice. I could barely hear him but his words hurt my ears nonetheless. Did he really forget about what he said to me that day when I walked out of their lives never to return again? The way he reacted that day, hurt me so much. He may have forgotten but unfortunately I remembered everything very clearly and every time I would think about that day, it would kill me all over again. Each and every time.

"Why should I tell you anything? You wanted nothing to do with me. And now I want you to stay away from my baby." My eyes were getting teary but I kept a strong look on my face. I didn't want to look at his face anymore so I tried to walk away from him but he grabbed my arm and brought me closer to him.

"I am her father." I visibly flinched at his voice. It was strong and commanding and it scared me to some level. I felt an unspoken threat by his action which led me to lost my temper too. I pushed him away from me aggressively.

"Don't you ever dare say that again? She is my daughter and mine alone. She doesn't have a father, got it?" Saying that angrily and hatefully; I ran out of the room and went straight to the washroom. I was bound to have a break down right then and there. Why was this happening to me? I really should have stayed away from Spenser. I couldn't handle the sons of Ipswich again in my life. They had already destroyed me once but now I have my daughter with me. _She needs to be protected._ I couldn't let them play with me and my daughter's life.

I learned that Reid would ascend next week. Caleb, Pogue and Tyler were really worried about him. I often caught him looking at my way after that confrontation between us. Specially whenever I was with Sam in classes or in the cafeteria. But I ignored him and the others like plague. I didn't want to do anything with them. I even considered going back to Boston but Sam and I were spending good times together so I reconsidered my decision. With Sam, I found a new hope that maybe my life wouldn't be so bad in the future after all. Sam had moved in with me in my house because I requested him and he didn't like the dorms anymore. His new roommate was giving him a hard time and since we were a couple so it was okay to live together.

Everyone was happy for us. Troy and Sam became very good friends in short time. The rest of the group was happy with Sam too. He was the perfect boyfriend for a girl like me but sometimes I felt guilty. Unlike Sam I wasn't the most perfect girlfriend in the world. Sam could have had someone loads better than myself. He deserved someone who wasn't so broken, and who wasn't drowning in problems from head to toe. But I was being selfish at the time and didn't want to deny myself the little happiness that Sam provided me.

The day before the weekend, we planned a triple date in the evening after school. Me and Sam, Troy and Angela, Michael and Jessica the six of us went to Nicky's for our date. As usual the Sons of Ipswich and their girlfriends were there too. But we didn't pay them any attention and were enjoying ourselves very much. I was a little worried about Rosalie though. I left her with Melody who gladly wanted to baby sit her for the evening. Suddenly Sam asked me to dance with him when others left for the dance floor as well. I denied at first but then thought about giving it a try because Sam was giving me his puppy dog look. We went to the dance floor and caused the others to cheer out loudly. It drew some unwanted attention to us as well but we didn't bother about that and began to dance anyway. We danced on a slow romantic song that Michael selected from the jukebox especially for me and Sam.

While dancing closely, for a moment Sam and I got intense and leaned into each other without knowing. Our lips were almost brushing when suddenly we heard a loud crushing noise as if a glass broke somewhere. We looked around and found the source of the noise immediately. Reid was thrashing Aaron Abbot like a mad man. The other three were trying to stop him but he was way out of his control. I feared that he would use in public and expose themselves but thanks to Caleb, he dragged Reid out of there.

Aaron was bleeding badly from the head injury. His friends quickly took him to the hospital while everyone else got back to their own business. But I already lost my fun mood and asked Sam to take me out of there and somewhere else. We said good byes to the others and walked back to the parking lot where Sam had his car parked. He drove us to the cliff of the Dells. The night sky was very clear and the stars were shining brightly above us. We lay on the hood of the car beside each other to enjoy the moonlit night.

"You know Sam, I've been thinking for quite sometime now, how my life would be if you would have come in my life at the beginning. I bet it would be a lot nice and easier to live." I said that more to myself than to him. Sam sighed out heavily as well.

"I am here now and I would always be with you." We looked at each other straight into the eyes and got lost in the moment right away. Sam got closer to me and kissed my lips. But then stopped to see my reaction. I smiled at him and pressed my lips to his for longer this time. I felt him smile in the kiss. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me over his chest. We kept kissing and completely lost the track of the time. We realized how late we were when Melody called me. Sam drove us back to the house fast. I thanked Melody and Sam drove her back to the dorms. However, Rosalie wasn't very happy about my being away from her for too long. She refused to look at me at first and didn't even bother to acknowledge me when I tried to scoop her in my arms. Getting Rosalie upset was really not a good thing. It took me almost half an hour to cheer her up again.

The following week went fairly well. I didn't encounter any problem at all. I was relieved to some level that the sons of Ipswich didn't give it a damn about me or my daughter. They were in there own world with their own problems. No one tried to talk with me again. At the end of the current week Reid would ascend and everyone was looking forward to it including me. Though secretly. I'd never admit that to anyone; not even to myself if I could. Unfortunately things didn't stay the same.

One afternoon, I was walking out of the school building all alone after the last class ended. Sam was waiting up for me at the parking lot. I was just passing by the library when I heard voices coming from inside the room. Though no one was supposed to be in there at that hour. I thought about ignoring it at first but then curiosity got the better of me and I got closer to the door to listen carefully. I couldn't hear much; only whispers. But what I heard at the end scared me terribly.

"They will all die. The sons of Ipswich will pay..." The voice belonged to a male, and it was stranger to me. I suppressed the gasp that threatened to come out of my mouth. I hid myself quickly and waited up for the man to come out of the library. But after a while Reid's girlfriend Bianca walked out of the library alone but there was no male inside with her.

An unwanted gasp escaped my mouth but luckily she didn't notice me and walked away from there. When I looked inside the library I couldn't find any one else in there as well. Who was that other person whom she was talking to? And where did he go? I thought to myself but couldn't figure out anything. Should I inform the sons of Ipswich about this? After all their lives were in danger. How could I not tell them? Though they hurt me a lot but I didn't want to see them dead. I didn't hate them that much. But Bianca was Reid's girlfriend. There was a huge possibility that no one among the group would believe me. But I had to try and at least warn them about Bianca even if that caused me some more trouble.


	22. The Evil Girlfriend

 

 

**Chapter 21: The Evil Girlfriend**

 

I couldn't wait until tomorrow to meet with the sons of Ipswich and inform them about Bianca. I was really worried about what would happen to them. So, without thinking much about the consequences, I dialed Caleb's number and waited impatiently for him to pick it up. After couple of rings Caleb finally picked up the call.

_"Hello!"_ He said in his heavy masculine tone of voice. Caleb most probably didn't know who was calling him because he didn't have my new number on his contact list. So, I had to introduce myself to him.

"Hey Caleb, it's me Rayna." I could almost hear him getting tensed up immediately after hearing my own worried voice.

_"Is everything okay Rayna? Why do you sound so scared?_ " Caleb inquired with concern in his voice. However, I couldn't tell him anything over the phone. It would be too risky.

"Caleb, I need to talk to you right now. It's really important." I said. My frustration and fear were evidently present in my voice. Caleb didn't ask me anything further.

_"I am on my way._ " He said. I even heard Caleb starting up his car.

"There is a small coffee shop near Spenser, meet me there." Saying that, I hung up and ran downstairs. Sam was playing with Rosalie in the living room. My sudden tensed up look and behavior confused Sam to no limits. It made him worried as well. He came up to me with a questioning look on his face. Before he could ask me anything, I started to talk.

"Sam, I'm going out for a while. I'll be back soon." I kissed him quickly and grabbed my purse. I was ready to dash out of the house but Sam's voice stopped me on my way.

"Is something wrong, Rayna?" He asked looking extremely worried now. I hated myself at the time for troubling him like this. I turned around to look at Sam in the eye and sighed out heavily.

"I'm not gonna lie to you Sam. Something's going on, something bad." I said. Sam kept staring at me with such intense eyes that my heart started beating faster than before.

"Is it about the sons of Ipswich?" He asked. I was kind of surprised that he mentioned them without any venom in his voice for the first time. I on the other hand could only nod my head. At that Sam sighed out heavily. He looked away from me as if hurt.

"So, you are going back to them. You are leaving me, right?" He said it with so much pain and sadness that it scared me for a moment. But later I got angry at him for even assuming such things in the first place.

"Listen to me Sam, I'm not going back to them and I am certainly not leaving you. I just need to inform them about something. After that, I promise you, they won't get in between us, ever. But for now I need to do this." I wanted to yell at Sam but I could only manage to speak with a shaky voice. He realized what he said was wrong and that it hurt me very much. His eyes softened immediately and looked apologetic.

"I'm sorry Rayna. I didn't mean to hurt you. I trust you but… I can't trust them." Sam said. Then he took a deep breathe before saying more. "Rayna, all I want is, for you to be safe and happy. They hurt you before. I don't want to see you get hurt again. Let me come with you. I want to help you get through all your troubles." Sam was practically pleading with me and I really wanted to give in but I couldn't do that. Not right now. I got closer to him and cupped his right cheek with one hand. I brushed my thumb against his soft skin slowly.

"Sam, please take care of Rosalie, keep her safe. That would be the biggest help for me right now." Sam nodded his head lightly knowing that arguing with me wouldn't work in this matter.

"I will protect her with my life. Just promise me that you will be safe too." I hugged Sam like my life was depending on him and to some level it was actually.

"I promise." I said to him. Then I kissed Rosalie and rushed out of the house without wasting anymore time.

Caleb was already there when I reached the place. He was sitting at a corner table; away from the rest of the crowd. I walked up to him and sat in the opposite chair across from him. I was thinking the whole way, how I would tell him about what I knew. But while sitting in front of him I couldn't say the words anymore. My tongue refused to move. However, Caleb remained silent thankfully and let me take my time.

"I need to tell you something." I could finally speak up. Caleb nod his head once, an unreadable expression masking his face. However, his gaze was unnerving me from inside out.

"What I am about to say to you, you probably wouldn't believe me a bit but I need to say this anyway or else I will keep regretting that the rest of my life." I explained. Caleb's silence let me know that he wanted me to carry on and that he wouldn't interrupt me while I talked. I gulped down the nervousness I was feeling. ' _This is now or never_ '. I told myself.

"I heard Bianca talking with someone today in the library..." I told him everything that happened and what I heard from the conversation. At the end of the explanation Caleb looked like he was going to explode out of anger. At first I thought the anger was for me but it wasn't. Actually his anger was for a completely different reason.

"Shit! He is back." Caleb spat out through gritting teeth. His voice indicated how enraged he was. I didn't know who exactly he was talking about but I had a feeling that it might be their recent enemy. I had to know everything about what was going on.

"Who's back Caleb? Who are you talking about?" I asked. Never had I seen Caleb like this before. It must be something very serious.

"Chase Collins" replied Caleb while trying to calm himself down. I already heard about him from Melody but I didn't know what happened between Chase and the sons of Ipswich yet. Caleb started to explain to me what actually happened the last time Chase Collins crawled in their lives. I was absolutely horrified after hearing out everything.

"Why is he back now? What does he want?" I asked anxiously. Caleb looked straight at me and I knew the answer right away.

"Reid." I whispered out his name with fear. Fear for him. It felt awfully strange to me, saying his name out loud after a long time.

"Reid would ascend in four days. He is the easiest target for Chase because Reid uses a lot and can't control himself enough. Chase can easily make him will away his power to him." I already knew what happens when they will away their powers to someone else. And I didn't even want to think about it. My heart started to beat faster in my chest. _No, this can't be happening._ Wasn't there any way out of it? I looked straight at Caleb with intense eyes.

"You will be there to protect him against Chase, won't you?" Caleb stared back at me with steady unblinking eyes for a moment.

"Of course I will and everyone else will as well. We are like brothers, remember?" I nodded my head, knowing Caleb; he would give up his own life to protect his brothers. Caleb thought about something for a moment before speaking up again.

"Was Bianca frightened or scared when she got out of the library?" He asked casually but I could tell that he was serious about it. I recalled the memory properly and shook my head.

"No, she looked normal, actually quite pleased for some reason. Why? Do you think Chase is forcing her to do everything?" I inquired. Caleb ran a hand through his hair and shook his head vehemently.

"Well if she was being forced then she wouldn't have looked pleased now, would she?" stated Caleb as a matter of fact but it was quite obvious that he was mad about it. I realized too that Bianca was working for Chase on her own but the important question was why? Why would she want to hurt the sons of Ipswich in the first place? And how could Chase get to Reid through Bianca? Then a thought struck my mind suddenly.

"Chase is going to use Bianca as a bait to get to Reid, I presume. That's why she got close to Reid in the first place." I figured out Chase's plan quite easily. Caleb agreed with me on this completely.

"I doubted that girl in the beginning, when we met her, but no one listened to me. Moreover, everyone said that I was over thinking things and being unnecessarily paranoid. One day, Bianca accidentally witnessed Pogue and Reid using on each other when they got into a fight outside of Nicky's. Then before we knew it, Reid started dating her and let her in our group. He told her everything about us, every secret of our covenant. Damn! He is such a fool." Caleb said that angrily but a dark chuckle escaped my throat hearing that.

"Well I couldn't agree more with you." Hearing that Caleb exhaled a loud sigh through his mouth.

"As time passed, I couldn't find anything suspicious about Bianca as well and eventually I also stopped doubting her. So, I guess I am also capable of making stupid mistakes at times." I smiled at him a little when he said that.

"Seriously Caleb, you should really learn to stop blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong. It wasn't your fault. And things are not completely out of hands yet. You still have the time to right everything wrong and save him from Chase." Suddenly Caleb looked straight at me with strange emotional eyes. It made me uncomfortable instantly.

"You should know that you were the best thing that ever happened to him Rayna and he is gonna regret losing you his whole life." Caleb said that so softly but my body visibly shook anyway. It took me a long time to bury those memories deep inside me but Caleb brought them up to the surface in one single moment. I couldn't stay there anymore.

"I gotta go Caleb. I am getting late." I got up quickly and started walking away from there but Caleb caught up with me in no time.

"Rayna listen to me, please." He blocked my way and succeeded in stopping me. Thankfully no one was there to hear us. I had no choice but to face him and hear out what he had to say to me but my expression turned cold this time.

"Do you know why Reid beat Aaron that day at Nicky's?" He asked with seriousness in his voice. Like I cared about anything _he_ did. My silence gave him the answer that I didn't know nor I cared about it. Caleb intake a sharp breath before speaking up again.

"He beat Aaron because he was saying something bad about you. Reid couldn't stand watching you with another guy. He is still in love with you Rayna. He just won't admit it, not even to himself. But even a blind can see that." I didn't want to but I couldn't stop my tears from falling from my eyes and rolling down my cheeks. Even after seeing that, Caleb kept telling me how much Reid still loved me. At one point I couldn't take it anymore.

"Enough Caleb, just stop it. He never loved me, not for a single moment. I can't believe you are actually telling me all this." I shouted at him. At that moment Caleb seemed most cruel to me. I wrapped my arms around myself so that I wouldn't break down in front of him.

"I have already moved on to someone who loves me a lot. I don't want anything to do with Reid. Also this was the last time I got involved in your lives as well. From now on our paths will never cross each other." Saying that clearly, I started to walk away from Caleb again but unfortunately he wasn't done with me yet. He just had to have the last word.

"Will he accept Rosalie after knowing what she really is and the truth about her?" Caleb yelled after me. I knew he was talking about Sam. I didn't stop walking but what he said, indeed started to trouble me. I wouldn't be able to hide things from Sam forever if we were to be together and in a relationship.

One day sooner or later Sam would find out about Rosalie. He loved me without any doubt but I couldn't be sure if he was strong enough to accept Rosalie as well with her reality. I couldn't be sure if he'd even want to deal with her or me after knowing about her powers. I never thought about this problem before but I knew I had to deal with this no matter how much I didn't want to. It kept me up for most of the night. After thinking a lot I finally decided to tell Sam everything about Rosalie and the sons of Ipswich as well. I decided to tell Sam all about their covenant and then let him decide what he wanted to do before properly starting a life together. If Kate, Sarah and Bianca could know about the secrets of the sons of Ipswich; then I didn't think telling Sam about their powers would harm the covenant much.

So, making up my mind I went to school in the morning. During lunch break I sat with my friends and Sam. I planned on telling Sam about the covenant and Rosalie tonight. We were just talking about unimportant and casual stuffs when a very angry looking Reid entered the cafeteria. He walked right up to me with a deadly look on his face. I stood up and prepared myself to face him yet again. By the look on his face I knew he was pissed off about something and came to confront me in front of everyone.

"What the hell is your problem?" He shouted at me loudly. Sam immediately got in between us to keep him away from me as much as possible. Troy and Michael instantly got up to fight him as well. I saw Tyler came running behind Reid, apparently to stop him from doing anything stupid in the middle of the cafeteria.

"What are you talking about?" I asked Reid with a calm tone of voice and walked around Sam to face him directly. I didn't want to give Reid an excuse to hurt Sam in anyway.

"What the fuck did you tell Caleb about Bianca?" He spat out angrily and looked just like a hungry lion growling at his prey. But he didn't scare me a bit for some reason.

"Oh! So that's what you are complaining about. You know what? I actually feel really sorry for you Reid. How blind can you be?" I said mocking him. This set the blonde off even further.

"You are just jealous of her, aren't you?" He said in a calmer voice this time and even smirked bitterly. He also attempted to throw some nice insults at me and make me angry in the process. But for some reason he held back on doing that and instead asked-

"You're up to something, aren't you? What are you planning, huh? You want to get revenge on me, don't you?" I really wasn't in the mood to take on that nonsense. So I simply said-

"Why am I not surprised? Your thoughts are equally disgusting as you are? I don't want to deal with you so, why don't you go back to your precious girlfriend." Reid glared at me with an expression mix of bitterness and anger. Then he stepped closer to me and sneered at me hatefully.

"If I'm so disgusting, why don't you just stay the hell out of my life. And stay away from the rest of us as well." He said. Tyler couldn't just stand there anymore and finally got into action. He dragged Reid away from me.

"Oh gladly!" I said sarcastically after him and walked out of the cafeteria as well. Sam tried to follow me but Troy stopped him.

"She needs to be alone right now." He said to Sam. Sam nodded his head but he kept looking at me until I was out of his sight. Reid Garwin could bring nothing but pain in my life. That was the habitual truth of my life.


	23. Mistakes And Apologizes

 

 

**Chapter 22: Mistakes And Apologizes**

 

I didn't take much time to recover from the pain that Reid inflected upon me yet again. Once I was over that all I could think of was- _how am I going to tell Sam about everything?_ In the evening, I asked Sam to take me somewhere peaceful where no one would bother us. It was sort of a surprise for me when he drove us to the very cliff from where I once jumped off to end my life. Sam waited patiently for me to speak but I could tell that he was getting more anxious with every passing second. It was a now or never kind of situation. I gathered up all my courage and told him everything about the Sons of Ipswich and Rosalie. After I finished my explanation an awkward silence fell over us. It was really suffocating. I pleaded in my mind for him to speak up and say something, anything and end this unwelcoming silence between us. But Sam wasn't even looking at me. I already knew that I could lose him over this but it was the right thing to do, so I didn't regret my decision of telling him. I was prepared to take any kind of response from Sam, good or bad but it didn't mean that I wouldn't feel bad if he stopped loving me. After a while I couldn't take it anymore.

"Sam, please talk to me. The silence is killing me." I pleaded with him. Sam looked at me after I spoke up. I thought I would see anger or hurt or disgust, maybe even fear in him but he just looked emotional. I realized for the first time that Sam was actually a very sensitive person. His expression was soft and there was no trace of anger or hurt in him or other negative emotions as well. He walked right up to me and held my hands with his.

"Rayna, I'm very happy that you told me everything. Till today I only loved you but now I respect you as well. And I love you even more now. But- don't take this the wrong way but I need sometime to think. Can you please give me some time." I nodded my head feeling somehow relieved that Sam didn't outright reject me.

"I understand Sam. I want you to make a decision. That's the main reason of telling you everything. You have to decide what happens to 'us' now. Take as much time as you need as it's no easy decision." That was the end of our conversation. After that, Sam drove us back to the house. I unbuckled the seat belt and proceeded to get out of the car but I noticed that Sam was still holding the steering wheel and looked like he wasn't planning on getting out of the car any time soon. I knew something was troubling him.

"Aren't you gonna come in?" I asked. Sam shook his head.

"I want to spend the night at the dorms. But I promise I'll come back tomorrow." I nodded with a smile. I understood that he needed to get away from here, from me to think properly about what he wanted to do. I opened the car door but Sam stopped me from getting out. I looked back at him with a gaze of confusion. He leaned in slowly and kissed me lightly but pulled away before I could properly feel his lips against mine. It disappointed me a little but I smiled back at him anyway. I gave him a hug as well.

"Good night." Saying that I got out of the car and Sam drove away. Despite all my maturity and understanding, I couldn't help but feel a little lonely after he left. I just hoped that everything would work out between us for good.

It was almost midnight but I couldn't put Rosalie to bed. For some unknown reason she was acting really strange and didn't want to go to sleep. She was using continuously on the things around her; and making a complete mess in the room for no reason at all. I have tried everything I possibly could but she wasn't stopping. Rosalie never behaved like this before. It was making me worried sick. While I was dealing with the difficult situation, suddenly the doorbell rang. It scared the hell out of me. Who could come to my house at this hour of night? I slowly walked up to the door. My heart was beating faster than normal. I also grabbed the kitchen knife on my way so that if someone attacked me, I'd have at least something to defend myself with. I mustered up all my courage and finally opened the door. I sighed in relief immediately as it was only Tyler who was standing at the door.

"Tyler, what are you doing here?" I asked curiously. Just because I was relieved that didn't mean I wasn't confused to see Tyler on my porch. I never expected him or any of the sons of Ipswich to show up at my door. And the fact that Tyler was here, made me realize suddenly that something must have happened with them. Something bad. Perhaps that's why Rosalie was acting so strange as well. She was connected to them after all. Fear started to crawl up my skin. And the lack of explanation Tyler offered didn't help at all.

"We need to leave now." Was the only thing Tyler said as he entered the house pushing me inside along with him. He closed the door behind him. His eyes fell on Rosalie immediately and he attempted to walk up to her. But I stopped him before he could. I did notice that Rosalie had stopped using already. Maybe because of Tyler's presence in the room. Therefore I needed some answers right away.

"Tyler, would you please tell me what's going on? Because I am not going anywhere until you tell me." I said dead seriously. Tyler looked away from Rosalie and looked back at me.

"Don't ask me questions Ray, just go get changed. We'll leave in five minutes. Both of you are in danger right now." The seriousness in his voice let me know that something was really wrong. Since I didn't want to take any risk as Rosalie was involved, I rushed to my room without any delay and quickly got changed. Tyler already got Rosalie so, we rushed out of the house. Tyler had brought his hummer with him. After we got in the car, he drove as fast as he could as if something was chasing us or probably someone.

"What's going on Tyler? For God's sake, please tell me." I was getting more and more desperate with every passing second. I needed to know what was happening. Rosalie has fallen asleep shortly after getting in the car and I hoped that she wouldn't wake up very soon. Her powers seemed stable too for the time being.

"Everything will be explained to you. Just trust me on this." Tyler wasn't helping me a bit. I wanted to calm down my anxiousness but how was it possible without knowing absolutely nothing about what was happening? Tyler pulled over the Hummer in front of Caleb's house. 'The Danvers' Mansion. I already knew this place since I had been here before. Though I didn't know why Tyler brought us here. Once we got inside, I saw the other sons of Ipswich there as well. In their presence, Rosalie woke up slowly. At first she looked around the mansion. This was a stranger place for her after all. Then she looked at them. I myself was also looking at the sons of Ipswich.

"Now, would anyone please care to tell me what the hell is going on?" At this point, I was losing my patience and wanted to yell at everyone. I looked specifically at Caleb, having a feeling that he'd be the one to explain things to me. And that's when I noticed an older woman in the room. She was sitting in the armchair, with a wine glass in her hand. I assumed she was Caleb's mother Mrs. Danvers. She was staring at me as if studying me. And I must say studying me very carefully. Once she was done with that, she spoke up with a calm and composed tone of voice.

"Please take a seat dear. You need to calm down first to understand everything." I obeyed her without any protest. I had Rosalie in my arms; pressed against my chest tightly. Suddenly I was feeling very overprotective of her. More than usual. Maybe because I was too worried at the moment. Rosalie however was smiling widely and she stretched her hands out to where Reid was standing.

I wouldn't deny it, I felt a little hurt that she wanted to go to him and leave me. So, what that they were connected in a strange way! I gave birth to her and raising her up. She was mine in all senses. But I couldn't ponder on that thought for long as Reid came over to us. He lightly brushed his thumb against her soft cheek. Rosalie cooed happily and struggled to get out of my hold. I didn't want to create a scene there so I let her go to him. Though, I didn't like the idea a bit.

Once in Reid's arms Rosalie screamed with joy and pressed her face against his chest. She was hugging him happily. I wrapped my arms around myself so the current emptiness would go away but it didn't work much. Seeing Rosalie and Reid together kind of hurt my ego too but I could do nothing about it that instant. So instead, I turned my attention to the others. Caleb spoke up first.

"Rayna, there is something you need to know." With that he finally started talking. I felt a shiver going down my spine.

"I already told you that Chase Collins is back and wants Reid to will away his powers to him." I nodded my head to that. Suddenly a bad feeling filled in my heart. I somehow realized that something else was also threatening our lives.

"We just had an encounter with him." A gasp escaped my mouth when Caleb said that. Thank god they weren't hurt. But I knew that the bad news wasn't over yet.

"We found out about his plan. Now he wants something else along with Reid." My breathing stopped for a moment. And with Caleb's next words, my fear came true.

"He wants Rosalie too." I downright started panicking after hearing that. For a while, I couldn't feel anything or hear anything that they were saying. 'He wants Rosalie' that single line was echoing in my head. But I couldn't stay freaked out for long. I needed to hear out what Caleb was saying. I pushed away the fear and forced myself to calm down. I concentrated on what was being said. Once I was done listening to his entire explanation, I had only one question.

"Hold on a second Caleb. You are telling me that Chase wants Rosalie but how did he even find out about her in the first place?" I asked narrowing my eyes at them suspiciously. It was Pogue who answered my question, speaking up for the first time.

"Bianca told him." I frowned at him with both anger and confusion. How could Bianca know about Rosalie? The look on my face asked the question for me. Pogue looked troubled for a moment but he started talking anyway.

"Bianca is actually Chase's girlfriend and she was helping him to get his revenge on us." Pogue explained but it still didn't answer my question properly.

"And who told Bianca about her? Only the four of you knew about Rosalie's power." Slowly everyone looked at Reid and I got my answer. I had already kind of guessed it from beforehand. _'Great! What did I ever do to him?'_ I thought to myself bitterly. It was like he couldn't get a good night sleep until he messed up my life. I didn't hesitate to glare at him openly and dangerously as well. How I wished to just punch him in the face for putting my daughter's life in danger! Caleb continued to explain the situation or should I say tried to divert my attention from Reid because I was kind of trying to kill him with my eyes.

"At first we thought Chase wanted Rosalie as a bait to get to Reid because we've already found out about Bianca-" A dark snort escaped my breath as Caleb said that.

"Bait huh? Doesn't Chase know, he couldn't careless about Rosalie?" I looked at Reid pointedly and saw him rolling his eyes to himself.

"Well he is not planning on that" said Tyler gaining my attention back to the very important conversation we were currently having.

"So why does Chase want her? I mean, Rosalie is just a baby. She can't will away her powers to him. And I think she is the first of her kind. I don't even know if she could give up her powers and Chase should be clueless about the nature of her powers as well." I said confidently. Right then, Caleb sat across from me and looked straight into my eyes.

"Chase doesn't want Rosalie's powers. He wants to keep Rosalie with him." I narrowed my eyes at him with confusion; not getting what he meant. Caleb wasn't making any sense to me.

"What?... Why?" I asked. Caleb sighed out heavily and looked at Pogue for help.

"Chase knows that he can't have her powers but if he could get his hands on Rosalie, he will raise her and create an evil just like himself. Not to mention a more powerful evil. He could then rule over the world by using Rosalie and her powers." I recalled what was written in the letter that Caleb's father sent to me and I understood now what he meant.

"This is what Mr. Danvers warned me about. Rosalie's powers could be dangerous in wrong hands." I said that more to myself than to the others. Suddenly Caleb's mother spoke up again and she sounded anxious.

"Did he talk to you? What did he say?" She asked me eagerly. I felt bad for her. She must miss her husband.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Danvers for bringing this up. Actually, I received a letter from Caleb's father a few days ago..." I repeated to them what was written in the letter. I had it memorized due to the number of times I've read it. Mrs. Danvers listened to every word very carefully. She was still mourning her husband's death. I could see that very clearly. They must have loved each other a lot.

"Chase needs Reid's power to recover the damages from the battle with Caleb. After he regains his powers, he'd obviously kill everyone of us to take his revenge" said Tyler.

"Last time we weren't prepared and he was stronger than any of us. But this time we will make sure he won't come back again" said Pogue with determination in his eyes. He was really looking forward to meet Chase. He wanted to make that evil git suffer for hurting Kate last time. However, Caleb was in deep thoughts about this whole thing.

"Reid would ascend in two days. We have to be alert and be very careful. He is definitely planning to do something to get to Reid and Rosalie." Caleb was right. From what I heard about Chase, he would never stop until he succeeded. Unless someone stopped him, permanently.

"We have to bring Sarah and Kate here. Chase might want to use them against us again. They will be safe here" said Tyler. He could be very thoughtful sometimes but being Reid's best friend, most of the time he ignored to be one.

"Boys, I think it's enough for tonight. Let her get some rest" said Mrs. Danvers as she put an end to our discussion. One of the house maids took me to a room upstairs. Rosalie was sleeping peacefully in my arms. She had fallen asleep back when she was in Reid's arms. I put her on the bed carefully, trying not to wake her up in anyway.

When the silence of the room took over me, I started to shake a little. I would die if I lose Rosalie. She was the only reason I was still alive and still living. Without her my life would become meaningless. And I didn't think, I could go on without her, not even for a single second. The mere thought of losing Rosalie shook me from inside. Terribly so. Sleeping was impossible for me that night. So instead, I sat on the floor and leaned against the bed side. I was facing the full length window that was in the room. It allowed a wonderful view of the night and let moonlight in. My face was getting soaked by tears but I didn't bother to stop them. Would I ever live a normal life? I wondered, feeling depressed. But most of all, I was really scared for Rosalie.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize when the door opened and someone walked inside the room. I came back from my thoughts when I felt someone right beside me. When I looked up and found Reid here, it shocked me. Other than that, I didn't feel any hatred or anger towards him at that moment. It indeed made me question, what got into me? But there wasn't an answer for that. Reid was simply staring at me and I couldn't look away from his intense dazzling blue eyes.

"I won't survive if I lose her." I whispered out to him even though I didn't really want to. It was as if my mouth worked on its own.

"You won't lose her." Reid said firmly with confidence and assurance in his voice. He surprised me more by wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I should've jerked off his hand but I couldn't. Maybe I wasn't in my right mind after all as I wrapped my own arms around his neck. I couldn't stop myself and started sobbing uncontrollably.

"Sssshhhh it's okay. I am here. I won't let anything happen to her." He said. I didn't know Reid could comfort someone like that. His voice was promising and I couldn't help but trust him on this. After I calmed down a little I unattached myself from him and immediately missed the warmth of his body.

"Sorry." I apologized to him when I noticed that I've ruined his shirt with my tears. He just smiled at me. Then he looked over to Rosalie who was sleeping very peacefully, completely unaware of the danger threatening our lives.

"She looks just like me" said Reid after a while. I just nodded my head and then looked out the window.

"She even smirks like you whenever she does something naughty." I whispered and felt his eyes turning back to me. I gulped down the nervousness that I suddenly started to feel in his presence.

"Would you ever be able to forgive me?" Reid asked with soft tone of voice. His eyes became intense once again, more than before if that was even possible. I exhaled a deep breath before looking him in the eye.

"I don't think I can." I said truthfully. How could I? After everything. Reid looked away from me after hearing that and lowered his eyes. I could be wrong but it looked like he was feeling guilty. Not to mention he looked genuinely sorry. It seemed that he was suffering from loss and pain. All the memories of him that I had buried, came back to me and hit me hard. I felt my anger returning to me once again.

"Did those moments between us ever mean anything to you at all?" I asked suddenly catching him off guard. Reid took in a deep breathe and looked back at me. His eyes were screaming for forgiveness.

"I don't know that but believe me, there wasn't one single day when I didn't think about you. I had dreams about you every night. Your memories haunted me everyday. Every time I slept with another girl… your face appeared in front of my eyes. You never showed up again but you were always there in my life. I tried really hard to forget about you and erase all of your memories but I just couldn't do that." Silence consumed us after Reid stopped talking. It was really unnerving for the both of us.

"It didn't need to end up like that. The time we spent together was really amazing, at least for me." I said that more to myself than to him.

"Can't we start over again even if as friends only?" He asked me hopefully but it only stirred up the unbearable pain in my chest.

"How can I ever trust you after what you did? I can't let Rosalie get attached to you. It won't take you one moment to forget about her. You will leave her just like you left me." Very quickly my breaths became heavy and irregular. Rosalie moved a little in her sleep. Our voices were disturbing her.

"I need to get some sleep." I told Reid without looking at him. He nodded his head and left the room without saying another word. I got into bed but couldn't fall asleep right away. But when I did fall asleep I dreamed about Reid like I used to; when I was in love with him. It was undeniable that a part of me still loved him and longed for him even now. A part that I was certainly not proud of.


	24. Lovers Make Up

 

 

**Chapter 23: Lovers Make Up**

 

The following day in the morning when I opened my eyes, I couldn't find Rosalie beside me or anywhere in the room. I got out of the bed quickly and ran out of the room to find her. I heard some noises from downstairs. When I reached there I saw the boys, Kate and Sarah were playing with Rosalie. She was having fun with everyone as if she knew them very well. I stood at a distance where they wouldn't see me. I didn't want go near them and interrupt their fun. After watching them for a while I realized how happy Rosalie was with them, even without me. This was her place. I realized. She belonged here.

"She is a bundle of joy." A voice spoke up from behind me. I turned around and found Caleb's mother standing there. She looked better than the previous night. Mrs. Danvers came beside me and looked at the group having a good time. A dreamy smile appeared on her face but it didn't last long. She sighed out heavily as if remembered something sad and then looked back at me.

"You can't run away from the truth dear. She belongs here. Look, how she has her little fingers wrapped around everyone." I couldn't deny that, not anymore.

"What can I do? I can't live with him." If I let Rosalie stay here with her family then that would mean I would have to be with Reid. But I just couldn't bring myself to accept that.

"Sometimes it's easier if you let go." I understood that indirectly she was telling me to forgive Reid and start a life with him. But it was easy for anyone to say but it was exceptionally hard for me to do. I went back to the room and called Sam. He picked it up on the first ring. He must be waiting up for my call.

"Rayna, where are you? Is everything okay?" I should have at least left a note for him. He sounded really worried. I felt guilty for troubling him.

"I'm fine Sam, I had some work to do in Boston. I am sorry I didn't inform you about this earlier. I will come back soon." I didn't want to lie to Sam but I couldn't tell him the truth either. He was already going through a lot; I didn't want to add more tension for him.

"Okay, call me if you need me for anything-" then it went silent on the other side of the line and it happened all on a sudden.

"Sam? Are you there?" I tensed up a bit more. Bad things started to cross my mind.

"Rayna-" his voice was low and he sounded nervous as well.

"Sam, are you okay?" I asked worriedly. He was fine just a moment ago. What could've possibly happened to him so fast?

"Rayna, I want to tell you something. I have been thinking a lot and I've decided that I'd like to spend my life with you and Rosalie. I love you and I want to be with you." Sam poured his heart out to me. I should have been very happy to hear that but I just didn't feel anything remortly like happiness. It confused me and I wanted to figure out why. But I had to finish talking with Sam first without letting him know that I was feeling confused about my feelings for him now.

"I love you too Sam... I have to go now, see you soon. Bye." I hung up the call and went to get Rosalie. It was time to feed her breakfast. She smiled at me happily when she saw me coming.

"Hey beautiful, how are you this morning?" I pulled her up in my arms and kissed her soft cheeks.

"She is way too smart for her age" said Tyler smiling up at Rosalie. Needless to say she was the center of everyone's attention in the room. After she was done with her food, I returned her back to the gang and sat beside Sarah. The girls talked with me while the boys got busy playing with Rosalie again. I didn't want to kill the mood of everyone but I couldn't wait anymore.

"Caleb, what are you guys planning to do about Chase?" Everyone immediately got serious. Even Kate and Sarah got tensed up at the mention of Chase's name. We all knew that we wouldn't be safe until Chase was dead.

"Well Reid will ascend tomorrow. I think Chase would try to do something during this time" said Caleb.

"We need to be on strong guard specially about Rosalie. She seems to be his target this time." I felt my heart sank as Pogue said that. The four of them decided to stay in the house along with Kate and Sarah until Reid completed his ascension. It would mean more protection for me and Rosalie.

Later, Rosalie went to sleep earlier at night. I was pacing in the room restlessly thinking about starting a new life with Sam. But I wasn't sure anymore if that's what I wanted. Everything seemed confusing to me, even my own god damn feelings. It all started after Reid showed love and care for me and Rosalie last night. He was making things difficult for me to decide. Intentionally or unintentionally. I didn't know. And what about Rosalie? She loved Reid, there was no doubt about that. At that moment, someone knocked on the door, successfully interrupting my trail of thoughts. I opened it and the very person I was thinking about was standing there in front of me. At first, Reid looked past me at Rosalie.

"She has fallen asleep already." I nodded my head and stepped aside to let him in. He walked over to Rosalie and planted a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Careful, don't wake her up." I said in a low voice.

"She really likes me." Reid said as he walked back to where I was standing.

"Yeah, I noticed that." I said not sounding happy about it a bit because truthfully I wasn't.

"And you don't like it." He stated confidently, making me roll my eyes at him. Reid didn't say anything else and started to leave but I had to ask him something.

"She likes you but what about you?" He looked back at me and frowned in confusion as if he didn't have the slightest clue of what I was talking about.

"What about me?" He asked innocently.

"Do YOU like her? I mean the first time you heard about her you wanted me to kill her." I expected him to feel bad about it. I wanted him to feel guilty. But the reaction I got from him was completely different. He came closer to me suddenly. Our bodies were almost touching and our faces were only inches apart. My heart started pumping madly as sweat drops appeared on my face and neck. Reid smirked at me, knowing very well what he was doing to me.

"Why my closeness is making you nervous?" He asked cupping my cheek and brushing his thumb against my temple. The nerve of him, and here I thought he totally changed himself.

"I am not nervous and don't try to avoid my ques-" before I could finish the whole sentence Reid pressed his lips on mine. I tried to get away from him but he grabbed my arms and pushed me up against the wall. He pinned my wrists above my head using both of his hands. I was totally caught off guard at his sudden action. Even when we were together he never acted so wildly before. It was always soft and slow however, I always felt that, Reid was holding back his feelings while kissing me. But this time he wasn't just kissing me, he was expressing his feelings through it as well. I gasped in the kiss when I felt his tongue in my mouth. I never knew Reid could kiss so aggressively but it was also very passionate. And emotional at the same time.

I was holding myself back at first but couldn't restrain myself for long and started to kiss him back. The kiss soon became very wild and urgent. I felt longing and found desperation in his kiss. He wanted me, loved me and I couldn't help but feel the same for him. He was dominating me but I couldn't complain. I felt alive again. A moan escaped my lips as he bit on my bottom lip softly. He wasn't holding my wrists any more and I found myself pulling him closer to me. I realized then that I needed him in my life just as much as he needed me. I still loved him and wanted to be with him. We stopped kissing when we both ran out of air. He pressed his forehead against mine and cupped my face affectionately.

"I love Rosalie and I love you." He whispered and kissed me softly again.

"How can I trust you again? You are a good liar." I wanted to say that strongly but it came out as a whisper. I shivered a little when Reid planted a soft kiss on my neck and his hot breath tickled my skin.

"Do you really believe that I never felt anything for you? I loved you back then and I love you now more than before." I looked him in the eye, searching for anything that would let me know that he was lying to me but all I could find was love and longing for me.

"That night…...it was love between us." He said. I knew which night he was talking about and I inwardly flinched as the memories of that night clouded up my mind.

"No, it was love for me only but it was just sex for you." My voice regained the firmness in it but my eyes started to get teary.

"That's what I told myself too but it's not the truth. We made love that night. And that's why Rosalie is born." A few drops of tears fell on the floor as I started sobbing.

"Why are you telling me this? Why now when I am about to start a new life, with Sam. He stood by me when I needed love and support. It wasn't you, Reid." Reid nodded his head understandingly but looked hurt anyway.

"I know I don't deserve you but I just want you to know that I am in love you. I fell in love with you when we became friends. But I didn't realize that until you left me and I lost you forever." I was shocked to see tears glistening in his eyes as well. They were threatening to come out breaking all the barriers. My mind and my heart wasn't co-operating with each other. My mind told me to start a new life with Sam and leave this place forever and forget about my past. My heart told me to forgive Reid and embrace him. It wanted me to be with Reid and love him forever. Then suddenly I remembered what Mrs. Danvers told me in the morning and in a second my heart won the fight with my mind. I took a deep breath.

"I can give you one more chance but only if you promise me that you will never leave me and Rosalie again or hurt us in any way." I said. Reid's face lit up with happiness immediately and his beautiful lips curled up into a smile. He wrapped his arms around me and I embraced him back.

"I promise I will never leave you again as long as I am breathing." He pressed his lips on mine again for another long passionate kiss and it was filled with love only. For the first time in a long time, I felt truly happy and complete.


	25. End Of A Chapter

 

 

**Chapter 24: End Of A Chapter**

 

We wait for a special day in our whole life and then one day it's today. Finally it was the day of Reid's ascension. The sons of Ipswich had been waiting for this for many days now. Reid's ascension; without any doubt, would be the most difficult one. Caleb was constantly trying to trace Chase's powers so that he could locate him. The fact that Chase didn't strike us yet made everyone more worried and tensed. It was like the calm before a deadly storm.

I didn't let Rosalie out of my sight for one single moment. And to everyone's surprise including mine, Rosalie didn't let Reid go out of her reach the entire time as if she knew that her father was in danger and she needed to protect him. It was nearly the time for the Sons of Ipswich to go to the old Danvers house, the one that they used for meetings once in a while. However, Pogue decided to stay behind with the girls while Caleb and Tyler would go with Reid to help him during the ascension and keep him safe from any kind of danger.

The entire day, everything seemed to be alright but suddenly I got a call from an unknown number on my cell phone. I picked it up, wondering who that could be.

"Hello!" The first thing I heard was a lot of noises in the back ground. As if the person on the phone was in a very crowded place.

_"You know (sigh huskily) I thought you would be different than them Rayna but now it seems to me that you are just as selfish as they are_ " said a husky pleasant voice that without any doubt screamed evil.

"Who are you? What are you talking about?" I asked even though I had already guessed who the person could be however, I really had no idea what he was talking about. I heard a dark chuckle that increased my heartbeat successfully.

_"Don't act so naive sweetheart...There you are; hiding in a safe place but have you ever wondered about your precious friends? After all the things they have done for you, how could you just leave them unprotected? Personally, I think this is very selfish of you Rayna. Now only because of you, they are suffering from sweet nightmares of spiders and unimaginable pain._ " Suddenly, I heard a scream of a girl and it sounded like Angela's voice. I understood then that the noises in the back ground wasn't a crowd. They were screams of my friends. Then I heard a different male voice.

_"Please make it stop, she will die… please make it stop_." It was Troy and he was screaming there too. When the realization properly sank into my mind, I felt my heart jumping and pumping madly in my chest and my knees went weak as well.

"Please, don't hurt them….. Leave them alone. They have nothing to do with any of this." I yelled over the phone desperately. My whole body started shaking when I heard more painful screams from others as well. By the time, everyone was surrounding me in the room and they were looking worriedly at me. Anxiously wanting to know what was going on.

_"Do you think I don't know that? But, you see Rayna, they have proved to be quite useful for me...But of course, it's not them who I want. Obviously, I am just using them as a bait to get to you._ " I have never encountered with someone so bluntly evil in my entire life. It seemed to me that Chase was proud of himself for being the bad guy.

"What do you want from me?" I asked firmly; gathering up all the courage that I could muster at the moment.

_"Well, I want you to bring your precious daughter and the love of your life to me. Your friends and I will be waiting for you at the old Putnam barn where it all started._ " Before I could talk back; Chase hung up the call. I stood there still just like a statue made of stone. Until Caleb shook my shoulders a little; to bring my senses back.

"Rayna, talk to us. Who was it? It was Chase, wasn't it? What did he say?" Everyone was looking at me for answers.

"Yes, it was Chase…. And he has everyone…..he is torturing them." My voice was shaking terribly as I spoke about my unfortunate friends. Learning about this, Caleb got furious instantly.

"Chase could be playing tricks with us" said Tyler; looking more worried and concerned than angry and frustrated. And he was definitely considering all the possible options.

"But, I heard Angela and Troy screaming. What if he really has them? I can't let anyone suffer because of me. We have to do something immediately." I wouldn't have given it a second thought if I had to die to save my friends; but it was not my life that Chase desired for. It was my daughter's life and Reid's. How could I possibly save one without endangering the other?

"He wanted me to take Rosalie and Reid to him or else, he will kill them all." Caleb wasn't the one to lose control on his powers so easily but he couldn't control it this time and used on a flower vase in the room. In a blink of an eye, it burst out into pieces and shattered completely. Sarah rushed to Caleb quickly and put a hand on his chest to calm him down. It worked a little but not much given the circumstance.

"That bastard!" spat out Pogue hatefully, and glared in the space heatedly. He also felt enraged like Caleb but he didn't lose his control.

"Isn't there any way out of it?" Kate asked worriedly as Pogue pulled her into a hug. She looked quite scared because of her previous encounter with Chase. She nearly died last time. Suddenly Reid came up and gave Rosalie to me who was resting in his arms peacefully during the whole discussion. I looked at Reid with questioning eyes; unsure about what he was thinking to do. However, I was sure that he had something going on in his mind.

"I am going to the barn alone. I will not let anyone get killed for me." When Reid said that; at that moment, it felt like I never knew him in the first place. He was willing to risk his own life for my friends. Was he always like this and I've never noticed it or did he change this way while I was gone from his life? Either way, I felt respect for him that time.

"Reid, don't do anything stupid right now or you might risk their lives as well, along with yours. And it's not just you that he wants." Tyler glanced at Rosalie as he said that. I knew too that Reid was being irrational and he couldn't possibly take down Chase alone; all by himself. And moreover, during the time of his ascension which was approaching too fast for my liking. Reid wouldn't be able to fight Chase while ascending. It was simply impossible. I needed to think of something fast before it was too late.

"Caleb...it's going to be a bit risky but I have a plan."

Later, I got in the car with Rosalie. Reid drove us up to the old Putnam barn. I had planned on doing whatever Chase asked me to do over the phone. But the real plan was that when he would get busy with Reid, the others meaning Caleb, Pogue and Tyler would rescue everyone and get them somewhere else at first. Once everyone was safe Caleb and Pogue would join the fight as well and Tyler would take Reid away from there to help him complete his ascension.

It sounded suicidal and everyone rejected the idea at first but none of them could think of a better idea while arguing about it. So, in the end, everyone agreed to do what I planned for. When I reached the barn with Reid and Rosalie; it seemed deserted and there was no sign of anyone. But then Reid was suddenly knocked off on the ground and a man landed on the ground like a cat; right in front of me. I didn't need to ask his name to know who he was.

"I knew you would come to me. You are such a good girl, Rayna." Chase looked at someone past me and before I could turn around and see the person myself, Rosalie was snatched away from me.

"Rosalie NO!" I screamed, shocked and startled. Rosalie let out a scream too. The person was none other than Bianca. She was holding Rosalie roughly, almost bruising her. I remembered the first time I saw Bianca. She didn't look so evil to me back then. But now she was. Rosalie was struggling hard to get out of her hold but obviously Bianca was much stronger than her. I was trying with my life to get to Rosalie but something invisible prevented me from doing so. When, Reid saw this, he grew ferocious with anger. Bianca was hurting Rosalie with an evil smile plastered on her face. Reid literary growled out at her. It seemed to scare her a little but the girl covered it up quickly.

"Where are they?" I asked Chase about my friends, though not taking my eyes off of Rosalie for a millisecond. Chase laughed darkly that could definitely make a grown man shiver from fear.

"Oh! they are doing just fine Rayna. Look there they are..." said Chase cheerfully and pointed behind me. I turned around to look behind me. The place was empty just a moment ago but now Troy, Angela, Michael, Jessica, Melody and even Sam were there; suffering from pain, twisting and turning in agony.

Everyone I loved and cared about was there, being tortured horribly. Their painful screams filled in the air and made it completely unbearable. Though, Jessica and Melody were sleeping but spiders were walking all over them. And they weren't regular spiders but poisonous black magic laced ones. Sam and Troy were in worst kind of condition and that was only because they had tried to fight back. Sam's eyes fell on me and it widened with shock and horror.

"Rayna, why did you come here? They are gonna kill you too." Sam yelled for me to get out of there. But I couldn't. Reid and Chase were already engaged in a deadly power fight. Instead of leaving like Sam was telling me to, I ran up to my friends instantly but unfortunately, I couldn't touch them because there was some kind of a magical shield on them. It kept me away from rescuing them. Troy looked at me with a strong stare and spoke up firmly.

"Rayna, they are planning to kill us anyway. You can't save us now. Take Rosalie and run away from here now." But I shook my head vehemently.

"Whether everyone's gonna make it out of here alive or no one at all." I said to them with determination in my voice.

Caleb and the others would be arriving soon. Once they'd get here, everything would start rolling according to our plan. As there was nothing that I could do about rescuing others, I ran back to Rosalie. Bianca was trying to strangle her mercilessly. She was laughing and enjoying the moment as well while Chase kept hurting Reid badly. I did the best thing that I could do at that time. I punched her hard in the face, using the element of surprise. She lost her balance instantly and fell on the ground but it didn't do much damage to her as she stood up rather quickly and attacked me right away with a knife that was hidden in her jeans pocket. I grabbed her hand before she could stab me. I was making it hard for her to inflect pain upon me but Bianca didn't want to give up so soon.

She kept attacking me until she finally cornered me at one point. There was no way for me to escape the death stab now but before I knew it, she was thrown away from me. I looked around to see the person who saved me and my eyes fell on Rosalie then. She was staring angrily at Bianca's half unconscious lying form on the ground. I scooped her up in my arms quickly, making sure she was okay. Meanwhile, Bianca got up and charged at me again but Tyler came there on time and threw a wave of power at her which knocked her out completely.

"I wanted to do this for a long time now" said Tyler more to himself than to me and looked quite pleased with himself for that. Bianca's unconscious body lay on the ground as we went to rescue the others. Caleb and Pogue already joined Reid and they were fighting against Chase as well. Reid was screaming in pain though once in a while in every few minutes. The time of his ascension finally arrived but the circumstances weren't suitable at all.

"Tyler, you have to get him out of here, NOW." I said to Tyler anxiously. Tyler rushed towards Reid right away and dragged him away from the fighting place. Chase was still very strong and he kept fighting against Caleb and Pogue alone. My friends were already saved but they were still feeling the pain. I gave Rosalie to Troy and ran back to Reid and Tyler, not noticing Sam's gaze on me a bit. I couldn't think of anything else but going to Reid at the moment and take care of him. His ascension was almost over; so far he did very well. Of course Tyler was helping him to cool down as well. He was still very sweaty and panting heavily as well when it finally ended for good. Tyler left us to give us some time alone and also to join Caleb and Pogue in the fight. Reid wrapped his arms around me and I pulled him into a hug. I buried my face in his chest, tears escaping my eyes uncontrollably.

"I love you….. I love you so much. I am so sorry for hurting you… I love you more than anything else in the world..." Reid kept saying those beautiful things and I kept listening to him knowing he really meant them this time.

"I love you too." I said and couldn't help but lean in and kissed him softly on his lips. Suddenly we heard a loud bursting sound. Reid got up slowly and we ran to the others as fast as possible. Thankfully what we found out was a good thing. Caleb and Pogue finally had Chase and he was lying on the floor, dead. And for real this time.

"I guess it's finally over now" said Caleb. They walked up to us, both Caleb and Pogue were hurt pretty badly. Caleb looked at Reid with concern and asked-

"You good?" Reid just nodded his head. However, his silence said the rest that he was glad that Caleb was concerned for him. But he would never say that out loud ever and we all knew that.

Everything was calm again. Troy had Rosalie with him, safely. Michael was preparing to take Angela and Jessica to somewhere for medical care. Tyler and Melody seemed to be patching up slowly because he was taking care of her very attentively and affectionately. And Melody was letting him do it without any complain. Their relation was ruined for me and Reid once. I was glad that they would start over again. But among all of us someone left alone. I walked up to Sam slowly, feeling awkward and nervous about facing him. I shouldn't have done that to him, I shouldn't have broken his heart when I knew myself how it felt to be heartbroken. I had no right to put him through trouble, pain and sufferings and I didn't want to either but somehow fate was making me hurt him. I couldn't explain how sorry I really felt for Sam and I was willing to do anything to make it up to him.

"Sam, I am really-" I started talking guiltily but he didn't let me finish.

"Don't say anything, Rayna. You don't have to be sorry for being with someone you love." When he said that, at that time I really wished he would start yelling at me rather than being understanding. It would've been much easier for me handle. I knew Sam was hurting and he was trying to cover that up by looking normal and accepting. He took my hands in his and looked into my eyes.

"I don't doubt your love for me Rayna but...you belong with him. However, I have one thing to ask from you." I nodded, eager to hear what I could do for him.

"Can we still stay friends?" I couldn't contain the happiness that I felt and threw myself at him excitedly. Sam engulfed me into a warm hug that felt so comforting but he let go quickly.

"Go to him now, he is waiting for you" said Sam and I looked back at Reid who was smiling at us. I kissed Sam on his temples and walked over to Reid; feeling overjoyed about what just happened. Reid was happy that things settled down between me and Sam in a good way. I would have hated to lose a friend like Sam.

"Come on everyone, let's go to my house. Sarah and Kate are waiting for us there." Caleb yelled for everyone. I started to walk towards the cars but Reid stopped me. I looked back at him with questioning eyes and wondered why he stopped me suddenly. Wasn't he feeling alright?

"Rayna, I have something I still didn't apologize to you for." I frowned at him with complete confusion. Reid took something out of his jacket packet. It looked like a photograph and it was indeed.

"What is it?" I asked curiously and in reply he turned the picture for me to look at. I found that it was the same photo of mine that he took the night we slept together after I fell asleep and gave it to Aaron as proof. I looked away from it quickly, not wanting to bring back those memories. Reid's eyes flickered and the photograph caught fire. It slowly burned away. The next moment, I felt his eyes on me but I kept my face lowered due to embarrassment. Reid cupped my face lightly and made me look at him.

"I know that I don't deserve your forgiveness or love...after all the terrible things that I have done to you. And I also know that there is nothing I could do to take them back. But I want to tell you this...Rayna, I am really really sorry for what I did to you and I'd wait my whole life for your forgiveness." At that moment, I wasn't entirely an innocent person myself anymore. I did just break Sam's heart, didn't I? And holding onto the past wouldn't let us begin a new future.

"Reid, if I wouldn't have forgiven you already, I wouldn't be here with you. I have already let go of the past and so should you. We have to start a new life with our daughter." As I said that, we both ended up kissing each other. I couldn't believe myself that everything went so perfectly. Most importantly, everyone was safe and happy as well. Reid finally ascended, Rosalie was safe too, Sam and I remained friends, Reid and I got together again and Chase was finally gone from our lives for good. Things couldn't get any better for us. It was a perfect happy ending for all of us, specially me. But I forgot that happy endings rarely happen in real life.

We got so busy after the fight was over that no one suspected a bit that Chase wasn't dead yet. He was just faking it, to catch everyone off guard and cause a major damage. When everyone thought it was over and no one was looking at him, Chase stood up on his feet and sent a power wave towards us which headed straight for Rosalie and Troy. Troy didn't know what to do, he terribly panicked and stood there rooted on the spot. Caleb and Pogue ran towards him but they were too late. The wave did hit someone but not them, not Rosalie or Troy. Sam had pushed them out of the way before it could touch them and took the entire hit on himself. Caleb immediately hit Chase with his full power and he disappeared into smokes and ashes piled up on the ground.

Sam slowly fell on the ground and my breathing stopped at the sight. When I reached him, he was barely breathing.

"Sam NO! Somebody please do something." I screamed out loud and kept telling Sam to stay with me, to hang in there.

"Sam, you can't do this to me. You can't leave me like this, Sam. Please….. Please. Please don't punish me like this." He was closing his eyes slowly but whispers came out of his lips.

"I…. promised…..you…. to protect her….. I love you." Saying that in barely audible whispers, Sam closed his eyes forever and his breathing stopped, never to start again. I pressed my ear against his chest and tried to hear his heartbeat. It was barely beating at first, and then abruptly it stopped beating completely. I lost Sam that moment. A loss that I would suffer the rest of my life.


	26. Life Goes On

 

 

**Chapter 25: Life Goes On**

 

**_7 years later:_ **

"Sam, sweetie your birthday cake is here!" I called out and a four years old brunette boy came running down to the hall from upstairs with a big smile on his face.

"MUMMY!" My little baby boy Sam, came running to me and jumped into my arms.

It's been almost seven years now since we fought with Chase Collins, the fifth son of Ipswich who unfortunately turned into something evil and had to die early. Reid and I got married right after we graduated from Spenser. Two years later Sam was born. We were going to college that time and I had to take a break from my educational life for a while because of the pregnancy. Reid and I, we decided to name our son after Sam, the person whom I loved so dearly. Who sacrificed his own life to save my daughter, Rosalie. I would often think about Sam and he still held a special place in my heart. Though with passing time the pain of his loss lessened but the memories of him were still here with me.

Rosalie and Sam, the two siblings were very different from each other. Whereas Rosalie was a daddy's girl, Sam couldn't take a step without me. He would follow me around all day and at night he couldn't go to sleep until I told him stories. He even looked more like me but he got his dad's eyes. Sam didn't have special powers like Rosalie did but he would develop his powers eventually like Reid and the others did at the age of thirteen. Needless to say, Rosalie liked the uniqueness about herself and she was really proud of it. She also liked being the center of everyone's attention. As I said before daddy's girl. On the other hand Sam hated the attention from others. He just wanted my love and my attention.

"Isn't your birthday cake really beautiful? Happy birthday sweetie." It was Sam's fifth birthday today. Reid and Rosalie wanted to throw a big party for the occasion. They arranged for a huge fancy party but Sam didn't like parties. He just wanted it to be a small get together of the family and friends. So, he started complaining about it to me right away.

"Sam, it's going to be fun, I promise. You would be alright and I will be with you the whole time. Also your friends are going to come too, sweetie." I tried comforting him. Reid came over to us when he noticed Sam throwing a small anger tantrum. I sighed out in relief when I saw him coming.

"Thank god Reid, you are here. Please talk to Sam, he is really nervous about this party " Reid was better than me when it came to calming down Rosalie or Sam. They both listened to their father at times like this, specially Rosalie. Reid took Sam from me and sat him on the table.

"Hey buddy, tell me what's bothering you? It's your big day today, isn't it?" Sam made a cry face and started to tell Reid what was making him unhappy.

"Daddy, I don't want Rosalie's friends to come to my birthday party. I don't like them. They bully me all the time and..." Sam kept complaining. Rosalie had a lot of girl friends and she gave them personal permission to tease and torment Sam which I really disliked myself. Rosalie often gets jealous of Sam because she thinks I love Sam more than her. They did love each other but they also fought a lot. Sam felt horrified when he heard Rosalie's friends were going to come over to the party too. Reid nodded his head in understanding with a serious look on his face. I really wanted to roll my eyes at him because I knew that he was about to say something really stupid.

"Well Sam, you are my son and you know what? The girls were used to really like me when I was of your age and also when I was at school. They would die for me… they still do." I glared at him from the corner of my eyes "...But well, what I am saying is, make me proud, my son. Don't let the girls get to you. You get to them first. And you should never hate a party because Sam, that's where you can meet all the beautiful girls." I slapped Reid on his arm as he kept blabbering idiotic things. He pretended to get hurt badly but that only made me glare at him more.

"I asked you to help Sam; not destroy his innocent mind." Reid playfully glared back at me and opened his mouth to retort back but Rosalie came there at that time to check out the birthday cake

"Wow, it's beautiful. I am sure dad did the choosing part, right?" I rolled my eyes to myself as Reid stood straight proudly. I shook my head with a smile tugging at the corner of my lips.

"Well that he did. Now take Sam and get him dressed and get yourself dressed as well. Everyone will be arriving soon." Rosalie groaned as I ordered her to do the chore.

"Mom, I'm just eight. I could barely dress properly myself, how can I handle that with him?" I sighed to myself. Rosalie was turning into a real drama queen day by day.

"Rose, you could do more than get dressed yourself." Now when I called her Rose, she knew I was being serious and she shouldn't trouble me much at the moment. Rosalie groaned again but took Sam with her. I kept looking at their way when I felt Reid wrapping his arms around my waist from the back. I smiled to myself and turned around to face him. He leaned in and kissed me passionately.

"I love you." I whispered to Reid when our kiss broke. There was no count of how many times we say each other 'I love you' each day. But every time we say that to each other it makes me so happy as if we were confessing our love for the first time. And I guess Reid felt that way too.

"You know I was wondering, we made two beautiful looking kids, I think we should have another one" said Reid with his trade mark smirk, often present on his lips and his eyes were shining with mischief as well.

"Well, I think it's a great idea. You better get ready for carrying the baby for nine months and suffer the labor pain as well because I am not doing that for the third time, sweetheart. Not a chance in hell." I said that in a false sweet pleasant voice that made Reid roll his eyes at me.

"You know that's impossible, besides making a baby is a team work, love." He planted a kiss on my neck and made me lean into him more. Reid was absolutely hopeless sometimes, well all the time but I still loved him more than anything else except for my children of course. Kids come first.

After a while longer the guests started to arrive at our house. Caleb arrived with Sarah and their two years old son Alex. Pogue and Kate were married but they didn't have any kids yet. Tyler and Melody got engaged and decided to get married after they were established enough. Troy and Angela came with their three years old daughter Kristen. Michael and Jessica had broken up right after graduation because they had to go to different colleges but both of them were in touch with us and they came for the party too. Each one of them was a part of the covenant and they were sworn to secrecy as well.

Sam considered Tyler as his best friend and since he arrived Sam was nagging Tyler about why Reid called him baby boy in their school days? Tyler was still a baby boy for the group and Reid still called him that sometimes.

After everyone arrived, Sam cut his birthday cake and blew five candles. Everyone clapped and wished him happy birthday. The room was full of laughter and happiness. When I looked around the room it seemed like a beautiful dream to me and if it was really a dream than I never wanted to wake up. Who knew that one day the bet girl would become the wife of the famous Reid Garwin and be the mother of his children? I was happy to finally have a surname …Mrs. Rayna Garwin and this was the story of the bet girl.

**THE END**


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